BILLINGS, Mont. — Tom Wilber began an improbable journey by asking one question: What happened to Bernie Rupinski?

The radar intercept officer in the backseat of his father's F-4 jet had never been found after the plane was likely hit by hostile MiG aircraft missiles over Vietnam in 1968. Wilber's father's ejection seat and parachute had fired at the last second, and he survived, even though as a prisoner of war for nearly five years in North Vietnam.

But what about Bernie? What had happened to him?

The military and Rupinski's family assumed that he had died with the crash. However his family never knew about his death, if he was buried or what had happened.

Wilber later became a naval officer, but it wasn't until he became a casualty assistance calls officer — in charge of informing families of casualties — that he began to think more about Rupinski.

In 2010, he started researching the crash, with the support of his father. He checked databases, records, reached out through official channels. Wilber didn't find much at first. After promising his family no more than three trips to Vietnam, Wilber traveled to the country in 2014 to search for clues.

At first, all he had were some maps, a bike and a few contacts he'd made. But it was a chance meeting in a coffee shop where an off-duty police officer there struck up a conversation. The officer was a history buff and knew much about "The American War." He also remembered stories of when a U.S. plane was shot down near there.

Wilber returned to Vietnam again, collected those stories and was able to discover that after his father's jet had been shot down, it burned for a couple of days. After the flames finally extinguished, a lone teenager found some human remains. He took those and buried them, two days after the crash.

"Knowing brings peace," Wilber said.

From that one very personal experience, Wilber began researching other stories. He set up the nonprofit Servicemember Recovery Foundation, Inc. And as he continued, he discovered more databases, made more connections. The remains and what happened to nearly 600 servicemen in Vietnam are still unclear.

Wilber spoke at Rocky Mountain College's Fortin Center about his efforts.

In this Sept. 18, 2015 photo, an American flag and a POW/MIA flag flies at the site of the memorial marker for U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Alan Ashall at the Yellowstone National Cemetery in Laurel, Mont. (Casey Page/The Billings Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Sept. 18, 2015, photo, an American flag and a POW/MIA flag flies at the site of the memorial marker for U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Alan Ashall at the Yellowstone National Cemetery in Laurel, Mont.

Photo Credit: Casey Page/The Billings Gazette via AP

One of those includes his mission to find more information on Lt. Alan Ashall, a Billings native who was shot down in Vietnam, Aug. 29, 1968.

Ashall served in the same air wing on the USS America as Rupinski, who was shot down two-and-a-half months earlier.

"We were able to poll aviators who deployed in 1968 and gather detailed photos of themselves in the flight suits to confirm the types of flight suits worn by Carrier Air Wing 6 flyers during that particular deployment," Wilber said. "These photos will help the material identification lab to determine if some recently excavated flight suit remnants can be linked to a recently identified crash site that may be where Alan Ashall went down."

As Wilber has traveled to Vietnam, he said the people have been interested in his work, almost universally willing to help.

"There are 93 million people in Vietnam," he said. "Two-thirds of them are under 35 years old and none of them remember or know much about 'The American War.'"

Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Share:
In Other News
Load More