GREAT FALLS — Almost 81,000 Americans remain missing from wars and conflicts dating back to World War Two. More than 1,500 remain missing from the Vietnam war. Friday, September 19, is National Prisoner of War Missing in Action Recognition Day.
In Great Falls, a group of veterans are keeping the memory of Maj. Robert Vincent Willett, Jr. alive.
Tim McGonigal reports - watch the video:
“This monument was put here some 50 years ago by his friends,” said Frank Tuss, Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4669 in Black Eagle.
Between the Missouri River and the playground at Odd Fellows Park in Great Falls stands a tribute to Willet. In the skies over Laos on April 17, 1969 , the recently-married Willett and Great Falls High School graduate was on a night strike mission over enemy targets.
“He made three runs over the enemy, and he was shot down. And his remains were never recovered,” said Tuss.
Willett, who was just 24 at the time he was last seen, was a First Lieutenant at the time of his disappearance. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, he served with the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing.
Although Willett has a tile at the Montana Veterans Memorial, has his name inscribed on the Vietnam Wall in Washington DC, and is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, Tuss and his fellow VFW Members from Post 4669 want people to know another monument stands in honor of Willett at Odd Fellows Park.
“This is kind of a thing that where we got together and thought this ought to be recognized, because I think for years, nobody even knows it here,” said Tuss.
Ohio based author and Air Force veteran JD Wetterling was flying with Willett the night he went missing.
“He's called M.I.A. Because it was a night mission and we saw the plane crash in a in a mushroom shaped fireball that lit up the mountainside where we were attacking,” said Wetterling. “But we didn't see him get out of the airplane.”
Wetterling says his friend and wingman was unlike other fighter pilots, never bragging. In fact, it wasn’t until a 2018 article in the Great Falls Tribune that Wetterling discovered Vince had been an all-state athlete in the Electric City.
“Vince was unique among fighter pilots in that he was a humble guy,” said Wetterling.
Wetterling said Willett’s widow received his pay benefits from the military for seven years and that he was promoted to the ranks of Captain and Major.
Wetterling’s memory of the fateful night is recounted in his book “Son of Thunder.” He says in an era where young people need heroes, they would be well served learning Vince’s story.
“I want the people of Great Falls to know that Vince Willett was the real deal. He was anall-American hero,” said Wetterling.
Frank Tuss says by bringing attention to small monument dedicated to a Great Falls hero, it might have a far reaching impact.
“Alot of people I know will hear this and they will walk on this trail, they're going to come over here and look at this and it will make people aware Vietnam didn't go away,” said Tuss. “There's a lot of people that have a lot of troubles. Maybe this will heal something.”
