Maj. Charles Jerome “Jerry” Huneycutt, United States Air Force Vietnam veteran was the only son of Rev. Charles Jerome Huneycutt, Sr. and Alice Alberta Piner and the Grandson of Rev. Rufus Franklin Huneycutt, Sr. and Nora Janie “Jane” Smith.
After participation in the Duke ROTC program and graduation in 1965, Jerry joined the Air Force. Upon completion of both flight school and parachute school, Jerry was assigned to the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, Da Nang, Airbase, Vietnam. He had been in-country about a month when his F4C aircraft was shot down.
“On November 10, 1967, 1st Lt. Charles J. Huneycutt, navigator, and his Pilot were the crew of one F4C in a flight of two which departed Da Nang Airbase, South Vietnam on an operational mission to Dong Hoa in North Vietnam... All contact was then lost... All four men aboard the two aircraft were classified as Missing in Action.” 1
Initially, Jerry, his pilot, and the crew members of the second aircraft were declared “Missing in Action”. At some point, one of the aviators was listed as a “Prisoner of War (POW).”
The 1973 Paris agreement contained a clause that required the North Vietnamese to return the men or bodies of any POW in their possession and make a dedicated attempted to repatriate the remains of all personnel lost during the war.
“In 1988, the Vietnamese discovered and returned to U.S. control the remains of 1st Lt. Charles J. Huneycutt Jr. The other three pilots lost on November 10, 1967 remain missing...” 2
Vietnam veteran, Maj. Charles Jerome “Jerry” Huneycutt, United States Air Force, is buried at Arlington Cemetery, Washington DC. He was 24 years old when shot down, in North Vietnam, that cold November day.
Maj. Jerry Huneycutt, tombstone at Arlington.
 |
| Image courtesy of www.arlingtoncemetery.mil |
Maj. Charles Jerome “Jerry” Huneycutt is my 3rd Cousin Once Removed.
_______________
[1] http://ncgenweb.us/mecklenburg/huneycutt-charles-jerome/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Image courtesy of www.arlingtoncemetery.mil
No comments:
Post a Comment