American War Hero · Vietnam War · Notice Nearby
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Murray Lamar Wortham
May 26, 1943 – unaccounted for since December 30, 1967
Born San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Loss location: Laos (~25 mi SW Ban Karai Pass / Steel Tiger area) (loss location)
Major (posthumous promotion from 1st Lt.), U.S. Air Force; pilot, 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron; F-4C Phantom II 63-7658 (Flamingo 02), night rocket strike over Laos, December 30, 1967
Missing in action — DPAA lists Maj. Murray Lamar Wortham as Unaccounted For (Active Pursuit), profile a0Jt0000000KYqeEAG (verified 2026-09-28). Pilot of F-4C 63-7658 lost December 30, 1967 on a night rocket strike over Laos; aircraft observed to hit ground past rocket impact, explode, and skip ~1000 meters; no ejections or beepers; crewmate Maj. Smith Swords III also Unaccounted For. While missing, the Air Force promoted him from first lieutenant to major. Memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Birth date and San Augustine, Texas, from POW Network bio w048 (public). Active Pursuit is not a recovered grave.
Murray Lamar Wortham was born in San Augustine, Texas, on May 26, 1943, and entered the Air Force from that state. By the last days of 1967 he was a first lieutenant flying the F-4C with the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron — night Steel Tiger work that put Phantoms down on the roads and trails of Laos.
On December 30 he flew Flamingo 02 — tail 63-7658 — on a night rocket strike. Other aircraft watched the Phantom run in, hit the ground past the rocket impact, explode, skip roughly a thousand meters, and burn. No ejection seat. No beeper. Searchers could not recover either man. While carried missing, the Air Force promoted Wortham to major.
DPAA profile a0Jt0000000KYqeEAG 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. A presumptive finding of death is paperwork. It is not a recovered grave from that Laotian night.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1965-029
- Content hash
- cec56fdb 97be6853 2bcdee88 be9a95ee 021c7b26 96e0cf56 38af5f7f d0360665
- Base anchor
- 0xa90b33 2602d9b1 9ce56075 3706f251 0b7af742 9c389c6f fd066098 b653c297 ba
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.