Tri-Cities Air Force pilot still missing after 55 years. Family asks for help

Annette Cary
·3 min read

The family of a Kennewick High School graduate killed nearly 55 years ago in Vietnam will spend another Veterans Day not knowing where his body lies.

On Nov. 25, 1968, San D. Francisco was a first lieutenant co-piloting an F-4 Phantom jet fighter, after volunteering for a mission when one of the original crew fell ill, said his younger sister Terri Francisco-Farrell of Kennewick.

His F-4 was shot down during the reconnaissance mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The location where he may have been buried in the Quanf Binh province in central Vietnam was identified in 2004.

The excavation of a site where MIA Air Force Maj. San D. Francisco, a Kennewick High graduate, may be buried in Vietnam has not been rescheduled after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the search.
The excavation of a site where MIA Air Force Maj. San D. Francisco, a Kennewick High graduate, may be buried in Vietnam has not been rescheduled after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the search.

Excavations of first one site and then another were done by 2020, without Francisco being found.

Then with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, excavations organized by the U.S. government were halted and a third planned excavation for Francisco was canceled.

Work is resuming in 2024, but Francisco is not on the list, says Francisco-Farrell.

“It’s very frustrating,” she said, nearly 55 years after her brother went missing.

The family is back to the beginning of the paperwork for what is planned as the final excavation to look for Francisco and bring him home for burial.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has met with Francisco-Farrell and advocated for the return of his remains previously.

Now Francisco-Farrell is asking for the residents of the Tri-Cities area — including Burbank, where Francisco grew up — to contact Murray and also Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to ask that the excavation be scheduled.

The third site to be excavated is close to the first.

When the F-4 Francisco was co-piloting was shot down, the pilot survived, only to be killed resisting capture.

Francisco had two broken legs and was being taken into captivity when he was hit by shrapnel from American bombs, according to accounts from Vietnamese witnesses.

Francisco-Farrell suspects that he was dragged into an open area by his captors in their attempt to ambush the Americans looking for him. She believes he died during the ambush after he would not lift his hands to the ladder of a rescue helicopter and put its crew in danger.

He was promoted to major after his death.

Hundreds of square feet have previously been excavated in Vietnam looking for the remains of Major San D. Francisco, whose jet fighter was shot down almost 55 years ago.
Hundreds of square feet have previously been excavated in Vietnam looking for the remains of Major San D. Francisco, whose jet fighter was shot down almost 55 years ago.

Vietnamese witnesses were interviewed over the last decade by the U.S. Department of POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to identify where Francisco’s body was buried.

Among them was one who was guarding a tunnel and said he saw Francisco’s parachute land. The other helped bury him and later exhumed his body for Vietnamese Army propaganda on a claim that his was the 2,000th plane shot down during the war.

He is believed to have been reburied in the same area.

In 2019 those two witnesses were re-interviewed by DPAA and escorted to the first site excavated in 2015.

They indicated that he was buried “just meters” from that site, Francisco’s sister said.

Francisco-Ferrell was told by the DPAA in 2020 that their information was credible. Then an excavation was planned for 2020, before the COVID pandemic derailed efforts.

Family and friends keep a counter ticking on a website devoted to his search, which counts the days from when Francisco’s plane was shot down.

On Labor Day the counter will hit 20,072 days that he has been missing.

Those who knew Francisco or want to help may email Murray through her website at murray.senate.gov/write-to-patty. Email Cantwell through her website at cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form.

Letters also may be sent to Sen. Patty Murray, 154 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510, and to Sen. Maria Cantwell, 511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510.