Robert Raymond Dyczkowski

The database page for Robert Raymond Dyczkowski

19 Dec 1999 I have worn his POW/MIA bracelet ever since it first came out and I very seldom take it off. It has broken in two pieces but I fixed it with lead solder and it works ok. Jackie & Jerry Fogoros, jjfogoros@netzero.net

20 Mar 2004 I found my POW bracelet with his name on it after 32 years. Wearing this bracelet was my first statement of political action as a high school student. Although it is sad that he has died, I think that I can thank him for awakening my political activism. From Doug McBride E-Mail will be forwarded by the Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

28 May 2007 Today is Memorial Day 2007. I finally found out what happened to the man whose bracelet I wore for so many years. My mother bought the bracelet for me when I was 14 years old. I don't wear it so often anymore. The silver finish has worn off the inside and the black lettering is chipping away. I waited for years for some information on Major Robert Dyczkowski. On a train going to Oregon in 1997, a man noticed I was wearing my bracelet and offered to check online for his status. Some weeks later he sent me a letter saing Major Dyczkowski was still unaccounted for. I cried today when I found out what happened to him. God bless you, Major Robert Dyczkowski, I've carried you in my heart for 37 years now and will always do so. Connie Huebert ccb324@yahoo.com

25 Aug 2007 My family was stationed in Guam from 1963-l966. Major Robert Dyczkowski's POW bracelet went to college in DC with me in the l970's. My teenage daughter just found it in my jewelry box and is now wearing it. We will never forget. Mari Waters Cogan mari_downtown@yahoo.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 23 April 1966, Captain Robert Dyczkowski and two other F-105s from the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron departed Korat RTAFB in Thailand to attack a target about 75 miles north of Hanoi. Dyczkowski was flying as the number two aircraft in a flight of three. After pulling off the target, Dyczkowski acknowledged join-up instructions but failed to rejoin his flight. No emergency signals were heard, no parachute was sighted, and search efforts were unsuccessful. Captain Dyczkowski, 33, was on his 99th mission, and had one more to go before returning home the following week. Instead, Dyczkowski simply disappeared. When the POWs returned home in 1973, Dyczkowski was not among them, nor did they have any knowledge of him. On 09 January 1978, the Secretary of the Air Force approved a Presumptive Finding of Death and Dyczkowski's status was changed from Missing in Action to Killed in Action/Body not Recovered. Thirty-three years later, in the fall of 1999, the wreckage of his aircraft was identified and fragments of his identification card and flight gear were recovered - but the only human remains which could be recovered from the wreckage was a single small fragment of bone. Late in 2000, the US Government determined that these remnants were sufficient proof that Robert Dyczkowski died when his F-105 impacted the ground. His family accepted this conclusion and in April 2001, with his family present, the mortal remains of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Dyczkowski were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Remains found in Vietnam identified as Buffalo-area pilot TONAWANDA, N.Y. (AP) - Air Force Capt. Robert Dyczkowski will be given a place in Arlington National Cemetery on April 6, 35 years after his death during a bombing mission over North Vietnam. Some of the Buffalo-area pilot's belongings and a bone fragment were recently found and identified, said family members who waited for decades for the news. "We now have some closure," his older sister, Lee Fellner, told The Buffalo News. Although Dyczkowski's body was not found, plane wreckage, a bone fragment (too small to yield DNA information), part of Dyczkowski's military identification card and part of a flight helmet embossed with "Capt. Dyc ..." were determined to be sufficient circumstantial evidence to allow the remains to be designated as those of Dyczkowski, the Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii told the family. Some of the artifacts will be buried at Arlington next month as family members, including his widow and grown children, look on. Dyczkowski's F-105 fighter-bomber disappeared April 23, 1966. Dyczkowski, 33, was on his 99th mission, and had one more to go before returning home the following week. "We were told that his plane had gone down and it might be a couple of days" before his fate was known, Fellner said. "A couple of days became a couple of years, and we still didn't know." The pilot was listed as missing in action for 12 years. In 1978, the military changed his designation to "presumed killed in action, body not recovered." "He died serving his country and as an honorable man doing his duty," Fellner said. "... I have no bitterness" (over U.S. involvement in the war). Dyczkowski, who was promoted to colonel posthumously, left behind a wife, Delma, and three children, now 36, 39 and 41. "You never give up hope," Delma Dyczkowski said from her Arizona home Wednesday when asked whether she believed her husband's remains would ever be found. "There's some relief," she said. "It would have been better if it would have been sooner but I am grateful that the government is still searching for remains." Both she and Fellner spoke sympathetically of families of other missing soldiers who still don't know what became of their loved ones. "We now have some closure, but a lot of other families don't," Fellner said, "and we will continue to support them." Associated Press Newswires Wednesday, March 14, 2001 Reproduced under 17 USC §107 Photo courtesy of M. R. Patterson, October 2002

The point-of-contact for this memorial is one who wears his MIA bracelet, Jackie & Jerry Fogoros jjfogoros@netzero.net

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 19 Dec 1999
Last updated 11/24/2007