KIBBEY RICHARD ABBOTT

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Name: COL Richard Abbott Kibbey (posthumously promoted)
Status: Remains were returned on Aug 2018 from an incident on 02/06/1967 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 32.7
Date of Birth: 06/02/1934
Home City: Delmar, NY
Service: regular component of the U.S. Air Force.
Unit: 38 ARRS DET 5
Service: U.S. Air Force.
The Wall location: 14E-129
Short Summary: N. Vietnam. See Patrick Wood.
Aircraft: HH-3E tail number 65-12779
Country: North Vietnam
MOS: 1043E = E Pilot Transport, C-124
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
Length of service: *

Additional information about this casualty:
On August 6, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Richard Abbott Kibbey, missing from the Vietnam War. Colonel Richard Abbott Kibbey, who joined the U.S. Air Force from New York, served with the 38th Air Rescue Squadron. On February 6, 1967, he served as the copilot of an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant (serial number 65-12779) on a search and rescue mission to recover the pilot of an aircraft downed over North Vietnam. During the mission, the Jolly Green Giant was shot down by enemy ground fire and Colonel Kibbey was killed in the crash. Due to hostile presence in the area, Col Kibbey's remains could not be recovered after the crash. Efforts to locate the crash site immediately following the war were unsuccessful. In 2017, a joint U.S./ Vietnamese investigative team excavated a crash site near Dan Hoa Village and recovered a set of remains that were identified as those of Col Kibbey the following year. Colonel Kibbey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Hostile - died while missing
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Methodist (Evangelical United Brethren)
This record was last updated on 02/09/2019

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023