The DOD POW/Missing Personnel Office has completed investigation of remains now identified as belonging to Maj. Perry Jefferson of Denver. Jefferson was an aerial observer aboard an O-1 Bird Dog on a mission over Vietnam on April 3, 1969, when contact was lost with the aircraft. A three-day search and rescue effort failed to locate a crash site before hostile action shut down the search. A joint team in 1994 interviewing Vietnamese citizens about a reported crash site learned the aircrew had been buried at the mountainside crash site, however, subsequent excavation revealed wreckage but no human remains. Remains turned over in 1984 were identified in 2000 as those of the Army pilot of the Bird Dog, 1st Lt. Arthur Ecklund. Another Vietnamese individual in 2001 turned over the remains that DPMO identified this year as belonging to Jefferson.
Pentagon Releases Cost of Living, BAH Rates for 2026
Dec. 30, 2025
The Pentagon will pay cost of living allowances to 127,000 service members in the continental U.S. in 2026, an increase of 66,000 members in 2025. Airmen and Guardians across the U.S. will also receive an average increase of 4.2 percent for their Basic Housing Allowance, compared to the 5.4 percent…
