MIA ID Card Found After 45 Years

The Nutley Sun this week reports the recovery of an ID card of Nutley's Vietnam War MIA Lt. David Dinan III.

From The Nutley Sun: 

Nutley Lt. David Thomas Dinan III's military identification card was recently found by a rescue team, 45 years after his body was left in Laos during the Vietnam War.

"It was just absolutely astounding," John Dinan, David's brother, of Nutley told the Sun. "I never thought they would find anything."

David Dinan, an air force F105S pilot, was killed in action on March 17, 1969, at the age of 25, after his parachute went down in Laos, located near Vietnam during the war. Dinan had been forced to eject from his plane after his jet had been hit by ground fire. He had parachuted into the trees, went crashing down a steep hill and got wrapped in his parachute. Dinan had been a pilot from the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Airbase, Thailand.

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nation/45-years-later-nutley-soldier-s-belongings-recovered-1.1041665?page=all#sthash.XuRfa2YX.dpuf

More information about Nutley son Lt. David Dinan III.

Lt. David Dinan III, MIA March 17, 1969

40th Anniversary

Air Force pilot, Lt. David Dinan III

last township war casualty, MIA over Laos
By Anthony Buccino

Lt. David Dinan III, 25, of Hawthorne Avenue, was killed March 17, 1969, in Laos, Southeast Asia, after he was forced to bail out of a F105 jet that had been hit by ground fire.

Lt. Dinan was a pilot from the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Airbase, Thailand.

During the combat mission, Dinan’s aircraft was hit by enemy fire and he ejected. His parachute was shredded when it hit trees, however, and he sustained what were believed to be fatal injuries from falling through the trees and down an embankment.
Dinan was declared killed in action/body not recovered.

After attending St. Mary’s grammar school, where he was in the Drum and Bugle Corps., and participated in Little League baseball, he entered Seton Hall Prep School. At Seton Hall, he wrote for the newspaper and lettered in track. He earned an engineering degree, with a major in physics at MIT and Stevens Institute of Technology. At MIT, Dinan was a member of Phi Kappa Beta Fraternity. He earned his commission in ROTC at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he majored in physics. He joined the Air Force in 1966.

In addition to his parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Charles Dinan, he is survived by a brother, Marine Lt. Charles Dinan, a sister Mary, and a brother John.

His fiancée, Lt. Valerie Gallulo, who he was to marry the following month, served in the Women’s Air Force. Stationed in Thailand, she served as an intelligence officer. She wrote to his parents: “David is truly a son to be proud of. I only knew him for nine short months but every moment we had together was a cherished one. He was a man and a gentleman in every sense of the word. No higher compliment could have been paid to my womanhood than when he asked me to be his wife.”



In a July 18, 1968, letter to his brothers, Johnny and Charles, Dinan wrote: “I’m sitting in a little shed on the end of the runway with a pair of binoculars and three radios to keep me company while I sit here and watch (supervise) the flying operations. Mostly it’s just boring as the dickens ‘cause most of the time there isn’t anyone landing or taking off. What I do is check the H105’s to make sure everything is normal before they take off and while they’re landing. Thank God for small favors.