With the April 3 internment of the remains of Air National Guard Maj. Perry H. Jefferson at Arlington National Cemetery, all of the Colorado National Guardsmen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been laid to rest, reports TSgt. Mike Smith of the National Guard Bureau. The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Officeidentified Jefferson’s remains last year. He was flying on an O-1 Bird Dog on April 3, 1969, that never returned to base; a three-day search found no trace and further searches were called off because of hostile action in the area.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.