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Vietnam
fighter pilot shot down honored after remains identified
Home News Tribune Online 03/30/07
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) … A Navy
fighter pilot who died more than four decades ago when his
plane was shot down over Vietnam is finally being honored
Friday in his hometown after his remains were recently
identified.
Cmdr. Peter Mongilardi Jr. was shot down on June 25, 1965
over North Vietnam during a reconnaissance mission,
according to the Department of Defense's Prisoner of
War/Mission Personnel Office.
It wasn't until 1993 that a joint Vietnamese and U.S. team
was able to obtain information about the crash. The team
eventually interviewed two local Vietnamese citizens who
remembered the crash and led investigators to the crash
site.
The following year, another team excavating the site found
human remains and pilot-related items such as pieces of a
flight boot and a belt tip.
In January of this year, Defense Department officials
announced that Mongilardi's remains had been identified.
Friends of Mongilardi, who was 39 and a Haledon resident
when he died, will gather at the Haledon Public Library to
share stories about the pilot.
His remains are to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery
on April 11. |
