Tours of Duty Releases Chorlins Case Findings After Potential Additional Remains of Vietnam War Pilot Surface Overseas

The release calls on congressional offices already engaged in the case to help secure review and action to bring Captain Richard Chorlins home.
Washington, DC - Tours of Duty has released case findings on U.S. Air Force Captain Richard David Chorlins, a 24-year-old Vietnam War pilot whose case was counted as accounted for after DNA identification from a bone fragment roughly the size of a fingernail, and whose potential additional remains were later reported by a Vietnamese family.

Captain Chorlins was assigned to the 602nd Special Operations Squadron at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. He was lost on January 11, 1970, while flying an A-1H Skyraider over Laos.

The Chorlins findings center on a painful question for families of the missing: when a servicemember has already been counted as accounted for, what happens if potential additional remains, identifying material, or family-held evidence later surfaces?

In 2023, Tours of Duty was made aware of a Vietnamese family claiming to possess potential additional remains, identifying material, and a blood chit connected to Captain Chorlins. In 2024, Tours of Duty traveled to Vietnam, met the family in the presence of Vietnamese security, contacted U.S. accounting officials, obtained real-time authorization from Chorlins' sister, and requested a lawful pathway to transfer the potential remains.

The potential remains were not received or repatriated.

Tours of Duty's case findings state that Chorlins' sister had not been briefed by the government on the Vietnam encounter, the family's claim, or the potential additional material when Tours of Duty notified her.

The findings are supported by contemporaneous communications, field documentation, and recorded materials from the Vietnam encounter and related contacts.

Tours of Duty is asking the congressional offices that have pledged to help bring Captain Chorlins home to support immediate review of the case findings and help secure a lawful pathway for any recoverable remains or identifying material to be received, evaluated, and, if appropriate, repatriated.

Vietnam-era accounting is running out of time. Witnesses are aging. Families are aging. Local memory is disappearing. Materials held quietly for decades may not remain available forever. When potential remains of an American servicemember surface, the country should act with urgency, dignity, and transparency.

Captain Chorlins did not give a fingernail-sized fragment to his country. He gave his life.

Tours of Duty believes that if more of him can be brought home, the United States should try.

The full Chorlins case findings are available here: Chorlins, Richard Refno 1549 [https://toursofduty.org/chorlins-richard-refno-1549/]

About Tours of Duty

Tours of Duty is a veteran-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the search, recovery, and fullest possible accounting of America's missing servicemembers. The organization conducts field investigations, witness interviews, case research, site analysis, and mission development in support of unresolved POW/MIA cases, while reconnecting veterans to purpose through service.

Media Contact: Mike Luehring Senior Mission Attache m.luehring@toursofduty.org [mailto:m.luehring@toursofduty.org]

202-539-9615 www.toursofduty.org
Media Contact
Company Name: Tours of Duty
Contact Person: Mike Luehring
Email: Send Email [http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=tours-of-duty-releases-chorlins-case-findings-after-potential-additional-remains-of-vietnam-war-pilot-surface-overseas]
Country: United States
Website: http://www.toursofduty.org

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This release was published on openPR.