Donald Alan Brown is a United States Air Force officer who went missing in action during the Vietnam War on July 30, 1970. He is one of fifteen servicemen from Arizona to remain unaccounted for during the Vietnam War.
Early Life[]
Donald Brown was born to Wiley and Emma Brown on July 19, 1939 in Phoenix, Arizona. Raised Presbyterian, Brown graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California in 1961. On October 12, 1963, he married Dana Stovall and they had two daughters, Dena and Kendra.
Military Service[]
Brown enlisted in the United States Air Force via the Regular Military. His service number was 526501362. He was attached to the 7th Air Force, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 14th Tactical Fighter Squadron. At the time of his disappearance, he was a Captain with his specialty/occupation being Weapons Systems Officer.
On the night of July 30, 1970, Brown and another USAF Captain, Gary Chavez, took off in a RF-4C Phantom II, tail number 66-0436, from the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. After taking off, the Phantom II reported to the Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center that controlled all air operations in the region. After providing their instructions for their reconnaissance mission in southern Laos, the ABCCC handed the flight mission to Forward Air Controller. The FAC cleared the Phantom II to photograph their target area, which was mostly uncharted and included terrain that was rugged and covered in jungle. When it was roughly twenty-five miles north of Muang Fangdeng, Laos, radio contact was lost with the aircraft and no further transmissions were received. At first, this was not a concern until enough time passed where by then the aircraft would have run out of fuel. Search and rescue efforts were conducted between July 30th and August 1st, but neither the aircraft or the two crewmen were located.
Aftermath[]
Brown was promoted from Captain to Major after the incident. He was also awarded the Purple Heart and memorialized at the Courts of Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii and on Panel 08w, Line 68 of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C. Since the end of the Vietnam War, neither Brown or Chavez have been among the returned Prisoners of War or remains that have been returned to U.S. custody and they were declared dead on October 12, 1973.
Donald Alan Brown remains among the over 1,500 Americans who remain unaccounted for in the Vietnam War. The DPAA has listed his case as being under Active Pursuit.
