ODESSA, Texas — After 50 years the remains of a U.S. marine from Odessa have recently been recovered. Vietnam veteran and Permian Basin Vietnam Memorial board member Bill McNeil said it’s hard being the family and friends of a MIA (Missing in Action) service member.
“My best friend was killed in Vietnam, and I miss him. I miss him terribly, but at least I know where he's at," McNeil said. "I know where he's buried, I can go by the cemetery and visit if I want to, you know. But they got nothing, the families of the MIA's have nothing to visit, to go see. There's just an empty hole that maybe one day that hole will get filled up.”
In the winter of 1972, U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ronald W. Forrester was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12 and 1st Marine Air Wing.
On December 27, 1972, Forrester was piloting his aircraft with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over North Vietnam. After entering the target area, Forrester's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew. In September of 1978, the marine corps changed his missing in action status to killed in action.
But thankfully Captain Ronald Forrester is finally back home in the states and will get the chance to be buried with honors.
“My reaction when I found out about it, and I was thinking just made me very happy. Because this family, at least now will have a little bit of their father, husband, brother, whatever, whoever they'll have him, and they can bury him with honors and know that he's back home,” said McNeil.
Forrester's name is among the list of MIA names on the Permian Basin Vietnam Memorial. But, it will be changing in the future.
“When we first had the memorial built like I told you earlier, there's 225 names of my brothers and sisters that were killed in Vietnam, eight of them were missing in action," McNeil said. "We have a little star beside their name where they're missing in action. Well, now we'll be able to remove Mr. Forrester's name from the missing in action. And so, the 8 missing in action from the Permian Basin is now down to 7.”
Forrester will be buried on October 7, 2024, in Arlington National Cemetery.
