Vietnam
-
MIA
Fallen
Fargo, ND
Circumstances:
On March 1, 1969, Keller and Meroney were the crew of an F-4D Phantom II aircraft that crashed while carrying out a nighttime strike mission in Khammouan Province, Laos. Nearby U.S. aircrews reported seeing the aircraft hit by enemy fire. No parachutes were seen after the aircraft was hit. Heavy enemy presence in the area prevented recovery efforts.
On September 6, 2012, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Wendell Richard Keller, missing from the Vietnam War.
Colonel Keller entered the U.S. Air Force from Arkansas and was a member of the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. On March 1, 1969, he piloted an F-4D Phantom II (tail number unknown) a nighttime strike mission against enemy targets in Khammouan Province, Laos. The aircraft was hit by enemy fire and crashed, killing both men; Col Keller's remains were not recovered at that time due to a heavy enemy presence in the area. However, between 1994 and 2011, several joint U.S./Laotian investigations were conducted at the crash site in Khammouan Province and recovered human remains and other material evidence. Modern forensic techniques were able to identify Col Keller among the remains.
Colonel Keller was lost with Captain Virgil Kersh Meroney III of Arkansas who has also been accounted for.
Biography:
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be buried, as a group, with full military honors.
Air Force Col. Wendell Keller of Fargo, N.D., and Capt. Virgil K. Meroney III of Fayetteville, Ark., will be buried as a group, in a single casket representing the crew, on Oct. 19, in Arlington National Cemetery, DPAA. Meroney was interred individually on June 9, in his hometown.
Colonel Keller is also memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.