Clayton Allen Fannin – Captain, United States Army

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Clayton Allen Fannin
Birth  4 October 1937
Rank Captain
Date of Death 10 January 1963
Service: Army
Place South Vietnam
Town of Record  Bakersfield California
Death Code: Hostile, died while missing; Fixed Wing – Pilot; Air Los, Crash on Land
1959 graduate of West Point
Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery

Woman Told Husband Fell In Viet Nam

As Tacoma joined the nation in mourning the late President today a young Tacoma, Washington, mother carried an extra burden of grief. Mrs. Rosalyn Fannin, 410 S. 58th St., learned that the body of her long-missing husband had been found in Vietnam.

First Lieutenant Clayton Fannin, 25, disappeared 10 January 1963 while on a scouting mission in a light plane over Viet Cong territory. He had been officially listed as missing ever since, while Mrs. Fannin prayed he might be found alive. But today, all threads of hope were cut.

Mrs. Fannin’s father, a Navy officer, was killed in World War II. Her mother and brother drowned in a boating accident last summer. Her year-old daughter, Rosemary Anne, is the sole family remaining for Mrs. Fannin. Rosemary had never seen her father.

Lt. Fannin was a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. His parents live in Bakersfield California.

(Tacoma News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, 25 November 1963

To Be Buried at Arlington

First Lieutenant Clayton Allen Fannin, 25, a former Tacoma Army officer who died in a South Vietnam air crash, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 22 January 1964 with full military honors. His widow, Mrs. Rosalyn Fannin, who lives at 410 S. 58th in Tacoma, will be flown to Washington to take part in the ceremony. The dead serviceman also leaves a daughter, Rosemary Anne, age 13 months.

Lieutenant Fannin vanished on an aerial reconnaissance mission in South Vietnam on 10 January 1963. He was listed as missing until 9 December 1963, when the wreckage of his plane was discovered and the remains identified. He was a 1959 graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and was a member of the 4th Aviation Company at Fort Lewis before being transferred overseas.

A special DeMolay service for Lieutennt Fannin will be held in his home town, Bakersfield California., Sunday. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Fannin, of Bakersfield, will attend.

(Tacoma News Tribune, Tacoma Washington, 28 December 1963

23rd Special Warfare Aviation Detachment

On 10 January 1963, OV-1C, 61-2704 crashed, due to unknown causes, into a mountain southeast of Pleiku killing the crew:

Captain Clayton Allen Fannin of Bakersfield, CA (1E-16)

Lieutenant Suu, Army of the Republic of Vietnam

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