STEWART, VIRGIL G. Name: Virgil G. Stewart Rank/Branch: USAF, O2 Unit: Date of Birth: 10 October 42 Home City of Record: Baton Rouge, LA Date of Loss: 17 May 69 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 173602N 1054515E Status (in 1973): Killed in Action/Body not Recovered Category: 3 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D Other Personnel In Incident: Source: Compiled by THE P.O.W. NETWORK 02 February 93 from the following published sources - POW/MIA's -- Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs United States Senate -- January 13, 1993. "The Senate Select Committee staff has prepared case summaries for the priority cases that the Administration is now investigating. These provide the facts about each case, describe the circumstances under which the individual was lost, and detail the information learned since the date of loss. Information in the case summaries is limited to information from casualty files, does not include any judgments by Committee staff, and attempts to relate essential facts. The Committee acknowledges that POW/MIAs' primary next-of- kin know their family members' cases in more comprehensive detail than summarized here and recognizes the limitations that the report format imposes on these summaries." On May 17, 1969, First Lieutenant Stewart was the pilot of an F-4D in the area of the Mu Gia Pass, Khammouane Province, Laos, when his aircraft sustained battle damage. He ejected from his aircraft and reported to rescuers that he was on the ground with a broken arm and leg. Rescue forces had a visual sighting of him and short beepers. A hostile gun position was located south of his position and it was attacked by SAR forces. A pararescue specialist later landed in the area and found him dead. Hostile groundfire prevented recovery of his body. He was declared killed in action, body not recovered, in May 1969. In 1978, the Defense Intelligence Agency reevaluated a December 1972 report from the Defense Attache Office, Vientiane, prepared by the Air Force member (Project 5800-09-05) of the Attache's Exploitation Team. One of the items reported by the source of the report was that an F-4H had crashed circa May 1969 and it was assumed the pilot had been rescued. This report was reevaluated to be a possible correlation to one of several losses in the area of the crash, one of which was Lieutenant Steward's loss incident.