Joseph Shaw Ross
United States Air Force Captain Joseph Shaw Ross was a
Fort Thomas, Kentucky native and Air Force Academy graduate. He was assigned to
the 7th Air Force, 366 Tactical Fighter Wing, 369th Tactical Fighter Squadron,
DaNang Air Base, South Vietnam.
On 1 Aug 1968, Lieutenant Colonel William
Thompson, aircraft commander, and then 1st Lieutenant Joseph Ross, pilot,
comprised the crew of a McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II, call sign "Coach 1",
that was the lead aircraft in a flight of two. The flight departed DaNang Air
Base, South Vietnam on a night armed reconnaissance mission over Quang Binh
Province, North Vietnam.
Enroute to their assigned area, they were
diverted by the command and control aircraft to check out suspected truck
traffic in the vicinity of their original target. Coach 1 dropped several sets
of illumination flares that allowed them to confirm that North Vietnamese truck
traffic.
At 0310 hours, Lt. Col. Thompson told Coach 2, their wingman,
to circle the area while he made a bombing pass on the trucks. As the wingman
circled the area, he noted a large explosion within several hundred feet of the
moving targets. The crew of Coach 2 immediately attempted to establish contact
with Coach 1, but was unable to do so. In the darkness, the crew of Coach 2 saw
no parachutes and heard no emergency beepers.
At daybreak an airborne command post monitored emergency electronic signals seemingly emanating from the crash site. Further search efforts could not establish the whereabouts or source of those signals. Likewise, they found no tract of the aircraft's wreckage. However, they did locate the flare chutes dropped by Coach 1 near their target. Search and rescue (SAR) efforts were terminated on 6 August and both William Thompson and Joseph Ross were immediately listed Missing in Action. On 14 March 1975, both William Thompson and Joseph Ross status were changed to Killed in Action, no remains were ever recovered. While missing, LTC Thompson was promoted to Colonel and 1Lt Ross was promoted to Captain.
Captain Ross decorations include the Purple Heart,
National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Vietnam Service
Medal.
On October 29, 1979, the bridge that spans I-471 on Highland Ave.
in his hometown of Fort Thomas was named the Captain Joseph Shaw Ross Bridge in
his honor.
His name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall at
Panel W50 Line 45. Joseph S Ross graduated from the US Air Force Academy.
His body was not recovered.