🇺🇲Vietnam War Stories: Honoring the Heroes We Lost: Thomas Eldon Gillen of Kansas Missing in Action
Today we honor Colonel Thomas Eldon Gillen, of Kingman Kansas, who served with the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.
On February 18, 1970, aircraft commander Major Thomas E. Gillen and navigator Captain Robert S. Dotson were flying a U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II (#66-7526) from the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron as the number three aircraft in a flight of four F-4’s on a strike mission over Laos. During the mission, Gillen initiated a pass over the target with his wingman at one mile in trail. Prior to reaching the pull-up point, Major Gillen’s Phantom was hit by enemy groundfire and caught fire.
Tom Gillen did not bail out of the aircraft and was lost in the incident. Attempts to locate or recover his remains were unsuccessful. While carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Air Force promoted Major Gillen to the rank of Colonel. Today, Colonel Gillen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Tom was 36 years old.
Colonel Thomas Eldon Gillen is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC on Panel 13W, Line 28. Lest We Forget.
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Original description and photo sourced by The Vietnam veterans Memorial Fund Database
