Lawrence Byron Tatum

Vietnam War
Unit1st Air Commando Squadron, Pleiku
RankColonel U.S. Air Force
Entered Service FromChattanooga Tennessee
Date of DeathSeptember 10 1966
StatusMissing In Action
Memorialized
Courts of the Missing
Court
A
Notes

Colonel Tatum was a member of the 1st Air Commando Squadron, Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam. On September 10, 1966, he was the pilot of a Douglas Skyraider Attack Aircraft (A1-E) on a strafing mission just north of the Demilitarized Zone, North Vietnam, when his aircraft was struck by hostile fire. He managed to eject and parachuted into a tree, when communication with him was lost. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.