PETER JOSEPH STEWART
Rank/Branch: O5/US Air Force
Date of Birth: 12 August 1918
Home City of Record: Winter Haven FL
Date of Loss: 15 March 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212300N 1030000E (TJ928640)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Refno: 0274
Other Personnel In Incident: Martin J. Scott
(missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15
October 1990 from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: POSS DEAD IR 1516032672
SYNOPSIS: On March 15, 1966, Capt. Martin R. Scott
was the pilot of an F4C Phantom fighter/bomber
assigned a mission over North Vietnam. His
bombardier/navigator on the flight was veteran
pilot LtCol. Peter J. Stewart. The flight departed
Ubon Airfield, Thailand, in the late afternoon
for the armed reconnaissance flight that would
take them over the city of Dien Binh Phu in North
Vietnam. Scott and Stewart were number 2 in a
two-plane flight.
About one mile south of the Dien Bien Phu airport,
the flight leader spotted two trucks on the main
highway and directed the number two crew to make
a low bombing pass. Moments later, the leader
observed what he described as an dense explosion
resembling a napalm drop in the target area.
Repeated attempts to raise the number 2 plane
failed. Scott and Stewart were declared missing.
Because the plane went down in a heavily
populated area deep in enemy territory, an
organized search for Scott and Stewart was not
possible. There was no evidence of survival.
In 1972, the Defense Department received a report
from a refugee who stated he was shown the crash
site and the graves of the two pilots. He stated
that Stewart's plane was the only plane shot down
in that area, but could not specify the date or
year. The DOD added, "POSS DEAD IR1516032672" to
Scott's records. This report was disproven in 1986
on the basis that Scott's plane was not the only
plane shot down in the area (in fact there were
several), but the data remark remained, and the
Air Force cannot verify why the "only plane"
statement was made.
In 1985, a returned POW recalled that Peter
Stewart's name was one of those passed around in
POW camps before Americans were released in 1973.
In 1975, the Stewart family identified a photo of
a prisoner of war as Peter Stewart.
Whether Scott's name was ever mentioned as a
possible POW is not known.
Whether Scott and Stewart survived the crash of
their plane on March 15, 1966 will not be known
with certainty until either they themselves or
their remains are returned. Although over 10,000
reports concerning Americans alive in Southeast
Asia have been received by the U.S. Government,
we have yet to discover the formula that would
secure the freedom of these men.
Martin Scott and Peter Stewart could be among
them. Isn't it time we brought these men home?
Peter J. Stewart and Martin J. Scott were both
promoted to the rank of Colonel during the period
they were maintained Missing in Action.
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