06 May 1998 My roomate in the USAF, at Moody and Mather Air Force Bases, was Captain Robert John Edgar. I was surprised to see his date of casualty as 25 Oct 73. I saw his name on the "Moving Wall" and the information in their book showed the 5 February 68 date as the date he was listed as MIA. I met a mutual friend of Bob's and mine at an air base in Korea in 1969, and he told me then that he saw in the Stars and Stripes that Bob was missing. I remember this well, as I took it pretty hard, and had a few tears at times. Bob Edgar was a short roly-poly guy with a million friends. He was the first one at the O'club every day, after class, and I can still see him holding a scotch and water. He was average looking, but with his charming personality, the girls were crazy about him. We were both batchelors then, so I'm again surprised to learn that he was married when he died. Like everyone else on the Wall, he was too young and too precious to die. Bob Edgar will always be a special person to me. What a loss... From a comrade-in-arms and friend, Don Sanders djsanders1041@yahoo.com

 

Mission Notes The 14th Tac Recon Squadron arrived at Udorn RTAFB on 28 October 1967 and immediately began to fly photo recon flights over various areas in Southeast Asia. Their first loss occurred on 04 Feb 1968, when First Lieutenants William T. Potter and Robert J. Edgar, flying RF-4C tail number 66-0443, were lost on a flight over southern Laos. The operational area was covered by cloud, but the RF-4C was cleared to begin its photo run by a Forward Air Controller operating beneath the cloud layer. Potter descended through the layer and reported visual contact with his target, but a few moments later the FAC saw an explosion on the ground and assumed the RF-4C had crashed. The RF-4C had impacted Phakap Mountain about 50 miles due east of Nakon Phanom, Thailand, not too far from Ban Phonsangphai, Laos. Search and rescue forces could not find any sign of the two crewmen, but later reports from friendly Laotian troops indicated that both men died in their aircraft. Both men were carried as Missing in Action until the Secretary of the Air Force approved Presumptive Findings of Death - Edgar on 25 Oct 1973 and Potter on 04 Dec 1975. Their bodies have not been recovered.

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