The Defense Department has announced that the remains of nine airmen missing in action since 1968 have been recovered and returned to their families. These airmen were buried with full military honors June 10 at Arlington National Cemetery. They are: Col. William H. Mason, Camden, Ark.; Lt. Col. Jerry L. Chambers, Muskogee, Okla.; Maj. William T. McPhail, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Maj. Thomas B. Mitchell, Littleton, Colo.; CMSgt. John Q. Adam, Bethel, Kan.; CMSgt. Calvin C. Glover, Steubenville, Ohio; CMSgt. Thomas E. Knebel, Midway, Ark.; CMSgt. Melvin D. Rash, Yorktown, Va.; and MSgt. Gary Pate, Brooks, Ga. The airmen were aboard a C-130A transport that went down May 22, 1968, during an evening flare mission over northern Salavan Province, Laos. Four excavations were held in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, between 1989 and 2008 that led to the recovery and subsequent identification of their remains.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.