Full Military Funeral Honors for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Downing (POW-MIA) in Section 75, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia on June 30, 2025 - 19

Airmen from the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard and the U.S. Air Force Band’s Ceremonial Brass, and Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Detachment conduct full military funeral honors with escort for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Downing in Section 75, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Monday, June 30, 2025. Downing was killed during the Vietnam War when he was 33 years old. From a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) press release: In September 1967, Downing was assigned to 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force. On Sept. 5, he was piloting an F-4C Phantom II aircraft as the second in a flight of two aircraft conducting a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over the then-Democratic Republic of Vietnam. While on a run to their target, the first aircraft witnessed a large, bright fireball in the air, and Downing’s aircraft did not respond to any radio calls. Search and rescue efforts began at daylight, but electronic and visual searches didn’t find anything. On April 28, 1978, the Air Force reported Capt. Downing as Killed in Action (KIA). He was later posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutena

Date

2025

Photographer / author

Arlington National Cemetery

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

6,979 × 4,653 pixels

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