Owensboro remembers missing Vietnam hero

Yahoo

29-04-2025

Owensboro, Ky. (WEHT)- As the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches, a hometown hero whose fate remains one of the biggest mysteries of the war is remembered. Eyewitness News' Brandon Bartlett shares his story.
Honor Flight of Southern Indiana preparing mail call
Colonel Charles Shelton was an Air Force pilot and father of 5 from Owensboro. It was on this day, 60 years ago, that his plane was shot down. Shelton never returned home, but his family never gave up hope.
Just off the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Owensboro, a granite monument stands in tribute to a man whose name became a symbol of sacrifice and Mystery. Colonel Charles Shelton, an Air Force pilot from Owensboro, and the last official Prisoner of War from the Vietnam War.
In 1965, Colonel Shelton was deployed to Southeast Asia. His mission was to gather intelligence from high above. He would do that by piloting an RF-101C Voodoo Jet- a one-seater supersonic fighter jet. On April 29th, 1965, Shelton was sent out on a mission which would take him into enemy territory over Laos. His plane was hit by enemy fire, but he managed to radio a final message- that he was bailing out and parachuting into the jungle below. Within hours, intercepted radio chatter suggested that he had been captured.
In the years that followed, intelligence reports and eyewitness accounts hinted that Shelton was still alive. This was certainly the hope back in Owensboro, where Shelton's wife, Marian, became the face of a movement. She never gave up hope that she would one day see her husband again. She traveled to Washington, D.C., meeting with Presidents and lobbying lawmakers, becoming a powerful voice in the fight to bring American Prisoners of War home- all while raising 5 children on her own in Owensboro.
Eyewitness News spoke with Joan Shelton in 2019 during a remembrance ceremony at her father's memorial in Owensboro. Despite several search efforts and rescue attempts, her father was never found. For nearly 30 years, Colonel Shelton remained officially listed as a prisoner of war, not missing, not dead. It's a statute that kept hope alive. It wasn't until 1994, nearly two decades after the war ended, that the Pentagon finally declared Colonel Shelton dead. By that time, Marian Shelton had passed away, never knowing what became of the man she loved. His daughter Joan grew up, never knowing her father. 'He obviously was a very well-liked man and is an American hero, and I am very proud of him- and my mother as well,' she said.
Now, as the nation marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, Owensboro remembers its missing hero. Colonel Charles Shelton- a soldier, husband, father, and a national symbol of service and sacrifice. His name is forever etched in stone, and his story lives on in the hearts of those who refuse to forget. Colonel Shelton's name is also inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
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