American War Hero · Vietnam War · Notice Nearby
No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the service and the writing, not an invented face.
David L. Hrdlicka
December 30, 1931 – unaccounted for since May 18, 1965
Born Littleton, Colorado
Loss location: Near Sam Neua, Houaphan Province, Laos (loss location)
Captain, 563rd Tactical Fighter Squadron; F-105D Thunderchief, Takhli to northern Laos
Missing in action — DPAA lists Col. David Louis Hrdlicka as Unaccounted For (Active Pursuit). On May 18, 1965, he piloted F-105D 59-1731 from Takhli Air Base, Thailand, against targets near Sam Neua, Laos. The aircraft was hit by ground fire. He radioed that he was hit and ejected. DPAA states he was taken prisoner by the Pathet Lao. Remains have not been recovered. A later administrative finding of death is not a grave.
David Louis Hrdlicka entered the Air Force from Colorado and flew fighters for the 563rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. On May 18, 1965, he led an F-105D from Takhli, Thailand, against targets near Sam Neua in Houaphan Province, Laos. Ground fire hit the Thunderchief. He called that he was hit and got out. Other aircrew saw the ejection.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency file states he landed in the Sam Neua country and was taken by the Pathet Lao. A later public photograph of a captured American in a flight suit was published abroad and has long been associated with his name in official memorial writing. This page will not print camp dialogue, private-family letters, or unverified later sightings. It will say a reconnaissance of the public record shows a named ejection, a capture finding, and no identified remains.
He was not on the 1973 returned-prisoner lists. Promotion to colonel happened on paper. An administrative close years afterward is not a recovery. He is on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu and on the Wall in Washington. The name on the wall is not a grave.
No rights-safe official portrait is hosted here. The documentation is an F-105 loss, a DPAA Active Pursuit case, and a man who has not been brought home.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1965-006
- Content hash
- 9a3a9aea ea313e82 ae6bcc95 04c9bb04 a4784b3f eea4e33b 8b60cb93 e0bfba15
- Base anchor
- 0xa0ec7c 2a48909b 9df4bf5f 6ce3f007 9b642f08 6cded114 3c5c8fb3 05a2ca00 13
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.