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After a wait of more than half a century, the remains of Col. Ernest Leo De Soto, a US Air Force pilot who disappeared during the Vietnam War, have been returned to his homeland.
De Soto’s remains landed at San Francisco International Airport on June 29, having been transferred from Pearl Harbor. His family, escorted by military personnel, solemnly moved towards the tarmac. The following day, a memorial service was held at Our Lady of Angels Church in Burlingame, California, followed by full military honors at the Golden Gate National Cemetery.
On the subject of Ernest’s long-awaited homecoming, his wife Joyce described it as miraculous.
Ernest De Soto’s identification signifies one of the more than 1,060 service members located through the relentless efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to recover remains of those lost during the Vietnam War.
Born on December 30, 1931, De Soto was a San Francisco native. As his friends were drafted for the Korean War in the 1950s, De Soto voluntarily enlisted in the US Air Force. Over the course of his military career, he earned his stripes as an officer and a fighter pilot.
De Soto was piloting an F-4D Phantom II, assigned to the 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 336th Tactical Fighter Wing, alongside navigator Capt. Frederick M. Hall and another aircraft on a combat mission on April 12, 1969. The crew ascended into dense clouds on their return from a cancelled strike mission near Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. The lead aircraft lost sight of De Soto and Hall’s plane and initiated an immediate aerial search.
Although the location of De Soto’s crash site was pinpointed via a search and rescue mission, the crew remained unaccounted for, and hostile activity in the area hindered a ground investigation.
Fast forward to March 2021, Vietnamese Recovery Teams trained by the Defense POW/MIA recovered remains at the crash site. Subsequently, on March 23, 2023, these remains were confirmed as those of De Soto and Hall by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
De Soto received a posthumous promotion to the rank of colonel. The news was then communicated to his wife Joyce De Soto and their family.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. expressed his sentiments, “We are profoundly grateful that Joyce and the De Soto family have been reunited with Ernest after these many years. Ernest’s valiant service in the defense of our nation and our way of life merits our deepest respect. We honor his sacrifice, and that of the De Soto family, in pursuit of peace at home and abroad. We extend our sincere gratitude to all those at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency who made this reunion possible.”
The De Soto family expressed their appreciation for the painstaking efforts leading to this long-awaited reunion.
Joyce reminisced, “Ernest was an extraordinary man who believed in his purpose. His passion for flying and his love for his country defined him. That was his life.”
Source: US Air Force
