30 Oct 2002 "To live in the hearts we leave behind, is never to have died." (Thomas Campbell, circa 1888) A memorial initiated by a cousin. ninawaters1@cox.net

 

Notes from The Virtual Wall A detachment of eight F-111As from the 429th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Takhli RTAFB in March 1968. Within five weeks three aircraft and four crewmen had been lost and the F-111s were withdrawn from a combat role, although they remained at Takhli until November 1968. The F-111A returned to Southeast Asia in September 1972, when the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing and two of its three squadrons - the 429th TFS and the 430th TFS - deployed to Takhli with 48 aircraft. The first combat missions were flown on the night on 28/29 Sepember - and the first F-111 loss was incurred (F-111A 68-0078, Major W. C. Coltman and 1st Lt R. A. Brett, 429TH TFS). On the night of 16/17 October 1972, Capt. James A. Hockridge and 1Lt. Allen U. Graham, both with the 429th TFS, launched on a low-level strike mission against the railroad bridge at Dia Loc, near Phuc Yen, NVN. For reasons never determined, their F-111A aircraft (tail number 67-0066) crashed near the target. Both men were listed as Missing in Action. Hanoi released a photo showing the ID cards of both men and other military papers from the aiorcraft, mentioning both Hockridge and Graham by name, and released photos of the totally burned wreckage of the aircraft. According to the North Vietnamese, Hockridge and Graham were killed when the F-111's escape module failed to deploy properly. A later broadcast reported the crew's remains were recovered and buried along the Ca Lo River. On 16 May 1977 the Secretary of the Air Force approved a Presumptive Finding of Death for Captain Graham. In September 1977, the Vietnamese government returned the remains of the two men; Captain Graham's remains were positively identified in October 1977.

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