Edmunds, Robert Clifton, Jr., Maj

On 27 October 1968, then 1st Lt. Robert C. Edmunds, Jr. was the pilot of an F-105D (#4264) in a flight of aircraft conducting a mid-afternoon armed reconnaissance mission. The target was the NVA's staging area where enemy convoys were organized prior to beginning their trip toward the acknowledged war zone. The entire area north of this major gateway into the Ho Chi Minh Trail was heavily defended and densely populated with NVA troops. The staging area was located approximately 5 miles due north of the Ban Karai Pass and 29 miles east-southeast of Dong Hoi, North Vietnam.

At 1610 hours, 1st Lt. Edmunds initiated an attack pass on the target located in the rugged jungle covered mountains roughly 2 miles east of Route 137, the primary road running through the Ban Karai Pass. Other pilots witnessed his aircraft as it was struck by enemy ground fire. They also saw it catch fire, go into a dive and crash. The other pilots saw no parachute and heard no emergency beeper. Further, because of the location of loss being in an area under total enemy control, no formal search and rescue (SAR) operation was possible.