Captain Richard Haven Van Dyke

This is a cenotaph memorial. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. It is also inscribed here at the Memory Grove Memorial, Salt Lake City, Utah. His remains are interred in the Provo City Cemetery, Utah. He was the son of Milton William Van Dyke and Kathryn Willey Van Dyke.

Capt. Richard H. Van Dyke, USAF, 480TH TAC FTR SQDN, 366TH TAC FTR WING, 7TH United States Air Force MIA Sept. 11, 1968, North Vietnam. Body Not Recovered. Found later. Captain Richard Van Dyke died while captured. His remains were returned to the United State on 7 July 1981 and positively identified on 20 July 1981.

HAFB Rite To Honor Viet Victim - HILL AIR FORCE BASE - Memorial services will be held at the base chapel Saturday at 11 a.m. for Capt. Richard H. Van Dyke, who has been declared dead after being missing in action in Vietnam since September 11, 1968. Capt. Van Dyke is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton W. Van Dyke, 2044 Michigan Avenue, Salt Lake City. He was born in Pennsylvania, January 24, 1944, and received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Colorado. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. On completion of Air Force pilot training at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona he volunteered for action in Southeast Asia. He was shot down over North Vietnam September 11, 1968. Seriously wounded, he was reported captured and officially declared dead by the Department of Defense last week.

Original obituary published by: © Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, Friday, 30 November 1973, page 35.

Remains of Pilot Coming Home - The remains of a Salt Lake man were among those of three Navy and Air Force officers turned over to the U.S. government by Vietnam two weeks ago. The Defense Department Tuesday identified the Salt Laker as Air Force Capt. Richard H. Van Dyke, 24, shot down September 11, 1968, over North Vietnam. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. M. W. Van Dyke, 2044 Michigan Ave. The other remains are of Navy Cmdr. Ronald W. Dodge, Olympia, Washington, shot down over North Vietnam, May 17, 1967, and Navy Lt. Stephen O. Mussleman, Texarkana, Texas, shot down over North Vietnam September 10, 1972. All three had been administratively declared dead by the armed services after boards of investigation studied information on their fate.

"I'm very saddened but this comes as a great sense of relief," said Mrs. Van Dyke, mother of the pilot. He was not married. "I was satisfied that he had died, but we were forever holding out for an accounting. We hope now that others who have not been accounted for will be. It is a great source of satisfaction to have them accounted for even though they are not living." Mrs. Van Dyke said she and her husband, Milton, were informed Monday morning by the Pentagon that their son was one of the men whose remains had been positively identified by Army specialists in Hawaii.

Van Dyke graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in psychology in 1966 and completed Officer Candidate School in May 1966. He had been a member of the Navy Reserve in college. He was shot down on his 46th mission with the 480th Tactical Squadron out of Danang. He was flying a Phanton F-4D locating targets with smoke rockets when ground fire struck his plane. Van Dyke was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and the Air Medal with seven clusters.

Returning POW's in 1975 told Defense Department officials Van Dyke was brought into their camp shortly after being shot down with a soft, apparently misaligned cast on one of his legs. Fluid was oozing from the cast and his leg was obviously infected. He was later taken to a Vietnamese hospital to have the leg amputated and that was the last ever seen of him. The Air Force issued a presumptive finding of death for Van Dyke in 1975, although no one saw him die."I didn't really give up hope," Mrs. Van Dyke said. "I was sure in my heart that he was not living. I didn't think the day would ever come that we could see his remains."

Mrs. Van Dyke is a former Utah coordinator of the National League of Families of POW's and MIA's, a group comprising relatives of men missing in action in the Vietnam War. She said she hopes the return of her son's remains will stimulate public interest and support for information about the status of all American servicemen presumed dead or missing in action.

She said she prays that the families of other men still unaccounted for will one day share her relief at the return of her son's remains. "The only thing I can tell them is to keep writing and keep the government aware that these men must be accounted for. We're proud of Rich - he's still a part of our lives."

Published in Deseret News - Tuesday, July 21, 1981.

SOURCE: Find A Grave.com