American War Hero · Vietnam War · Notice Nearby
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John H. Crews III
December 31, 1941 – unaccounted for since May 22, 1968
Born Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina
Loss location: North Vietnam (loss location; Dipper 02 night armed reconnaissance)
Captain (posthumous promotion from 1st Lt.), U.S. Air Force; aircraft commander, 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing; F-4D Phantom II 66-0246 (Dipper 02), night armed reconnaissance over North Vietnam, May 22, 1968
Missing in action — DPAA lists Capt. John Hunter Crews III as Unaccounted For (Active Pursuit), profile a0Jt0000000BTLGEA4 (verified 2026-09-26). Aircraft commander of F-4D 66-0246 (Dipper 02) lost May 22, 1968 on a nighttime armed-reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam; radioed heavy anti-aircraft fire; large fireball observed near the target; no crew located; crash-site work blocked by enemy presence. WSO Capt. Dean P. St. Pierre also Unaccounted For. While missing, the Air Force promoted Crews from first lieutenant to captain. Memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall (Panel 65E, Line 7). Birth date and Asheville, North Carolina, from Virtual Wall CrewsJH01a. Active Pursuit is not a recovered grave.
John Hunter Crews III was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on December 31, 1941, and entered the Air Force from that state. By May 1968 he was a first lieutenant commanding an F-4D with the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron — night armed reconnaissance that put Phantoms over North Vietnamese targets after dark, when the flak was harder to spot and harder to dodge.
On May 22 he flew Dipper 02, tail 66-0246, as one of two aircraft on that night's run. Right after the lead cleared the target, Crews's crew radioed that they were taking heavy anti-aircraft fire. The other crew then saw a large fireball on the ground near the target and circled without finding the Phantom or any sign of the men. Darkness and enemy fire kept searchers off the crash. While carried missing, the Air Force promoted him to captain.
DPAA profile a0Jt0000000BTLGEA4 still lists him Unaccounted For, analytical category Active Pursuit. He is on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu and on the Wall in Washington at Panel 65E, Line 7. Radio calls and a fireball are not a recovered grave.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1965-028
- Content hash
- d6a84eca 666601c9 6cbad031 ae67bae6 f3149221 2aef36e7 ad9b1d43 51c90d18
- Base anchor
- 0xb9579c ea0d30fb c47e6c7f 00253f94 2494e3d6 2a83c240 59ce8ebd 543cbc66 2e
Base stores the content hash, publication number, memorial id, and timestamp — not the full obituary text. The complete memorial remains on Notice Nearby. This is not a legal affidavit.