The Wall › Panel 20E › New York › Kenneth Frank Backus
KENNETH FRANK BACKUS
Captain · U.S. Air Force
August 15, 1938 – May 22, 1967
Service recordKenneth Frank Backus, of Pyrites, New York, served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on May 22, 1967, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 20E · Line 81
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Air Force
- Rank
- Captain (CAPT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Pilot (1115R)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 497 TFS UBON AB
- Born
- August 15, 1938
- Home of record
- Pyrites, New York (St Lawrence County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- May 22, 1967
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
39 names on the Wall carry the date May 22, 1967. In May 1967, 1,396 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 20E, Line 81
- RANDAL RAY AYLWORTHPrivate First Class · May 22, 1967
- WILLIAM KIMBAL BATCHELDERPetty Officer First Class · May 22, 1967
- GERALD DENNIS BEHLKEPrivate First Class · May 22, 1967
- LESTER EVAN HOLMESColonel · May 22, 1967
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.