TYLER, CHARLES ROBERT

Name: Charles Robert Tyler
Rank/Branch: O4/United States Air Force
Unit: 555th TFS
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Globe AZ
Date of Loss: 23 August 67
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 215000 North 1052000 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Incident No: 0804
Missions: 39
Other Personnel in Incident: Sittner, Ronald Nichalis, missing


Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK April 1997 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: Charles Tyler was the pilot of an F4D that crashed 5 miles North
east of Tuyen Quang. Ronald Sittner was the "GIB".

Charles Tyler retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel. He and
his wife Doris still reside in Arizona.

The following was in the final report of the Senate Select Committee's
POW/MIA investigation in 1993:

North Vietnam Ronald N. Sittner
(0804)
Charles Lane, Jr.
(0805)

On August 23, 1967, First Lieutenant Lane and his aircraft commander,
Captain Larry E. Corrigan (Case 0805), were the crewmen of an F-4 aircraft
on a strike mission against the Yen Vien railroad yard. Their aircraft was
hit by an air-to-air missile fired by a MIG-21 making it one of two aircraft
in their flight downed by MIG-21 missiles. Their aircraft was believed to
have crashed in Thai Nguyen Province, North Vietnam. Captain Corrigan was
captured alive and was repatriated during Operation Homecoming. Other
members of their flight reported seeing three parachutes from the crewmen of
the two downed aircraft. Three clear beepers were heard as well as one weak
beeper which was believed to be associated with Lieutenant Lane. Captain
Corrigan was the only individual shot down who was able to establish voice
contact with those overhead.

Upon his release, Captain Corrigan reported seeing another individual moving
around in his parachute, and he believed that individual to be Lieutenant
Lane. Ha Noi press reported the aircraft downing but did not specify the
number of crewmen captured. In August 1968, U.S. intelligence believed
Lieutenant Lane had been captured alive and that he was in enemy custody,
although his casualty status remained as missing in action.

The other aircraft's crew included Major Charles R. Tyler and Captain Ronald
N. Sittner (0804). Major Tyler landed and was taken prisoner. He, too, was
released alive during Operation Homecoming.

In October 1973, Lieutenant Lane's case was reviewed by the Department of
Defense at the request of his next of kin, and his casualty status was
changed to dead/body not recovered. Captain Sittner's case was reviewed at
a later date, and he was also determined to be dead/body not recovered.
Returning U.S. POWs were unable to confirm either individual alive in
captivity in the northern Vietnamese prison system.

In November 1991, the Joint Task Force interviewed witnesses to the downing
of the two F-4 aircraft and the reported sighting of either 3 or 4
parachutes. The location of their downing was determined to be in Tuyen
Quang Province, not in Thai Nguyen Province. Witnesses reported the capture
of two airmen and stated that they were unable to locate the other two
crewmen until 1970 when the partial remains of one of the two was located.
Local witnesses also stated that a nearby People's Republic of China
military unit arrived at one of the crash sites and recovered the wreckage
of one of the downed aircraft. They provided no other details about the
incident. The Joint Task Force concluded that the reported partial remains
may have correlated to the remains of Lieutenant Lane, who was not confirmed
to have ejected from his aircraft but could have done so. In April 1992, a
U.S. team interviewed additional witnesses and recovered personal artifacts
from both grave sites that did not correlate to the two airmen.

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Other information shows
" 138. Sittner, Ronald N. T036 reported him 1st hand at Cu Loc & Zoo
prison 8/23/67." T036 is returnee William Tschudy.

And the Egress report reads:
"Sittner, Ronald N. USAF Two good chutes seen. One of two
crewmembers (unidentified) was
known to have been alive on the
ground according to Carrigan
debrief C078."
C078 is returnee Larry Carrigan.

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