(CNN) Bryan Knight was 5 years old when he said goodbye to his father at an airport in Dallas, Texas, just before he was sent off to the Vietnam War.

That was the last time he saw his father.

A few months later, US Air Force Maj. Roy A. Knight Jr., 36, went missing in action on May 19, 1967. The pilot was leading a flight of two A-1E Skyraider aircraft on a strike mission over northern Laos when his aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

Roy Knight Jr. was a pilot during the Vietnam War.

No one reported seeing a parachute before the aircraft crashed, bursting into flames, nor was a beeper signal heard. Search and rescue efforts were initiated but due to intense hostile ground fire, an organized search was not conducted. He was declared deceased by the Air Force in September 1974. During that time, he was promoted to colonel

The crash site was excavated in March 1994 and life support items were recovered. The site was investigated four additional times in subsequent years.

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