Vietnam War veteran comes home for second time

Senior Master Sergeant, Robert Thomas (Tommy) Elliott, is returning home for a second time. The native of El Dorado was killed in action in the Vietnam War on Dec. 21, 1972.

Elliott was originally buried in El Dorado on July 21, 1985, more than 12 years after he was first reported missing in action. His funeral consisted of full military honors and 100 family members attended the service at Arlington Memorial Park.

In 2014, the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware requested DNA samples from family members. This would help identify servicemen from undesignated bone fragments that were stored at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, Nancy Lewis said. Lewis is one of Elliot’s surviving sisters.

With the new technology in DNA testing, they were positively able to identify several of Elliott’s fragments and contacted the family in January.

There were 16 servicemen on the plane. Two survived the crash and the remains of a third crew member were found the next day.

In 1985, communist authorities allowed a team to recover the crash site, where hundreds of bone fragments were found. All 13 unaccounted for crew members from Elliott’s mission were identified. “DNA analysis was not utilized by the military for positive identification of MIA or KIA servicemen at that time,” Lewis said.

At the time, forensic specialist identified bodies by taking the bone fragments from legs to estimate how tall a person was, or parts of the brain to determine how old they were. “It could have been Tommy, it may not have been,” Lewis said. “It’s been 44 years that we’ve had that question.”

“It was not definite closure back then, so with this DNA, we know it’s definite,” Lewis said. “We accepted it because we knew it was someone’s child, someone’s son.”

On May 6 at 11 a.m., there will be a memorial service held at his grave site in Arlington Memorial Park. An Air Force representative is going to come to El Dorado from Hawaii to bring Elliott’s remains, which were cremated.

“His ashes are in an urn and the urn will be buried on top of the grave,” Lewis said. “They are not going to dig up the casket. It will just be placed on top of the casket.”

Elliott’s parents have both passed away since the service in 1985. “Dad went through WWII and was more accepting of the fact. Mom never really gave up hope that he had survived the crash,” Lewis said.

The representative from the Air Force in Hawaii, a representative from Dover Air Force Base and an Air Force chaplain will attend the service.

Elliott graduated in 1967 from El Dorado High School, attended Southern Arkansas University and in 1970 graduated from Oil Belt Vocational Technical School (now South Arkansas Community College — east campus) before joining the military.

Elliott’s senior class is having their 50th class reunion the weekend of Elliott’s memorial service. “Some of his classmates requested that the service be held at that time so they might attend,” Lewis said.

Elliott’s surviving family members are his sisters Lewis of Magnolia and Peggy Byrd of Silsbee, Texas.

Kaitlyn Rigdon is a staff reporter for the News-Times. She may be reached at [email protected].

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