Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

After 50 Years, Daughter of Missing Vietnam Vet Will Bury Father Memorial Day Weekend

Photo credit: KRON4 News/Twitter
Photo credit: KRON4 News/Twitter
Share Tweet
By Carly Hoilman
Writer

May 26, 2017

Deborah Crosby waited more than 50 years to hear the good news that her late father, Vietnam War veteran Lt. Commander Frederick P. Crosby, would receive a proper burial.

Frederick Crosby died in 1965, at age 31, when his plane was gunned down during a bomb damage assessment mission in North Vietnam, the Associated Press reported. He was armed with only cameras, Deborah Crosby told the AP.

Deborah, now 58, was in first grade when her family received the devastating news of Frederick’s death. Beyond the pain of losing her father, Crosby had to live with the anguish of not being able to give him the sendoff he deserved.

Though presumed dead, Frederick’s body was not discovered until recently. Last year, after more than half a century of searching, military investigators contacted Crosby to tell her that they’d found her father’s remains.

San Diego: Daughter to bury father missing for 50 years in Vietnam https://t.co/uYPzlOgETw pic.twitter.com/cRbfRthCb2

— KRON4 News (@kron4news) May 26, 2017

On their third visit to the crash site where Frederick Crosby was presumed to have died, investigators met 89-year-old Pham Van Truong, a lifelong resident of Nam Ngan ward in Thanh Hoa City. In 1965, Van Truong heard gunfire near his property and witnessed a plane crash in the fish pond in front of his house. He even kept a piece of the aircraft to make a cooking utensil.

In a 50-page report provided to Deborah Crosby, investigators said that Van Troung’s testimony prompted them to comb the bottom of the pond. There, they discovered bones, scraps of fabric from Lt. Commander Crosby’s uniform, his chrome lighter, and his wedding band.

“It just changed my life in so many ways,” Deborah Crosby, who lives in New York, told the AP. “It relieved a lot of sadness that I’ve been carrying around in my heart very quietly.”

When she was young, Crosby and her grandmother vowed to search for Frederick’s remains in the hope of one day burying him in his hometown of San Diego. This weekend, Crosby will fulfill that promise.

Though her mother and grandmother passed away before the investigation came to a close, Crosby is thankful that the decades of phone calls, meetings with military leaders, and personal research have finally paid off.

On Friday, Crosby will receive her father’s casket at the airport in San Diego. And this Sunday, Lt. Commander Frederick P. Crosby will receive a Memorial Day Weekend burial in his hometown.

“I think my mom would be very happy that my dad is getting the military honors and the recognition of the hero that he was,” she said. “There is so much relief in my heart. I’m so overjoyed that my grandmother’s wishes came true and dad is coming home.”

—

(H/T: Associated Press)

—

Other Must-Read Stories:

— Pro Dancer With Cerebral Palsy Calls Disability the ‘Best Tool’ God Has Given Him

— Michigan Dad Died Running Race — Six Years Later His Son Finished It For Him

— Grammy-Winning Rapper Calls Out Churches for Not Preaching the ‘Hard Truth’ of God’s Judgment

— Why Was Mr. Rogers Trending in the Aftermath of the Tragic Manchester Bombing?

Latest

  • Entertainment

    ‘The Chosen’ Begins Filming Season 4, Series to Be Translated into 600 Languages: ‘We’re Back’

  • Faith

    Weatherman Reveals Why He Prayed to Jesus On-Air as Deadly Tornado Hit: ‘God Helps People’

  • News

    ‘I Am Beyond Grateful’: Liberty University Names New President in Wake of Jerry Falwell Scandal

  • Faith

    EXCLUSIVE: Famous Activist Prays For Mass ‘Exodus’ of Clinic Workers With Launch of Powerful Good Friday Campaign

  • News

    Actor Mark Wahlberg Reveals Why He Moved Family Out of Hollywood: ‘It’s Really Giving the Kids a Chance to Thrive’


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • ‘The Chosen’ Begins Filming Season 4, Series to Be Translated into 600 Languages: ‘We’re Back’
  • Weatherman Reveals Why He Prayed to Jesus On-Air as Deadly Tornado Hit: ‘God Helps People’
  • ‘I Am Beyond Grateful’: Liberty University Names New President in Wake of Jerry Falwell Scandal
  • EXCLUSIVE: Famous Activist Prays For Mass ‘Exodus’ of Clinic Workers With Launch of Powerful Good Friday Campaign
  • Actor Mark Wahlberg Reveals Why He Moved Family Out of Hollywood: ‘It’s Really Giving the Kids a Chance to Thrive’

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?