EC-121 Shoot Down Incident

On April 15, 1969, a U.S. Navy EC-121 reconnaissance plane on a routine flight over international waters was deliberately shot down over the Sea of Japan by a North Korean Mig-21 aircraft. The plane crashed into the ocean 90 nautical miles off the North Korean coast, killing all 31 Americans aboard in the largest single loss of U.S. aircrew during the Cold War era. President Nixon did not retaliate, but reconnaissance flights resumed. Although the crew had flown most of its missions out of Danang, South Vietnam, this mission departed from its home base at Atsugi, Japan, and because the incident occurred outside the Vietnam War theater and the flight did not leave from Vietnam, the 31 crew members are not listed on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Darrell Widman of Chapman, Nebraska, who had served with the crew until three months before the shoot down and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in February 1969, later sought recognition for the crewmen he had served with before their loss.

Central City, Nebraska · United States