On Sunday, March 16, national nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) will pay tribute to the American heroes who selflessly sacrificed their lives aboard Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 (FTLF 739).
The air flight disappeared in 1962 and was never found. Among the passengers was Leslie Junior Roderick, 31, of Houston. He has served in the military for about 13 years.
Persons can join at 1 p.m. at the Vietnam Welcome Home Room at the WAA National Museum in Columbia Falls, Maine. WAA will broadcast the ceremony live on its official Facebook page and over Wreaths Across America Radio.
Watch the ceremony live on Facebook, 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16, click here.
To listen live on Wreaths Across America Radio, click here.
To learn more about FTLF 739, watch this video.
Sixty-three years ago, on March 16, 1962, President Kennedy sanctioned FTLF 739 and its crew to complete a secret mission to survey Vietnam. This reconnaissance mission went missing, with no trace, the plane or its passengers never found. Onboard were 93 U.S. Army soldiers, 11 civilian crewmembers and four Vietnamese citizens. Very little is known about the fate of FTLF 739, and to this day it remains a mystery.
Due to the circumstances surrounding this mission, the U.S. government never added the names of those lost to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. In 2021, WAA and its founder Morrill Worcester erected the only monument bearing the names of these American heroes. The monument is located on Worcester tip land in Maine, where balsam is harvested to make veterans’ wreaths placed each December as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
The inscription on the FTLF 739 monument in Maine reads: “Missing in action; Presumed dead. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 went missing on March 16, 1962, with 93 U.S. Army soldiers on board. These men and their flight crew perished in what would become one of the biggest aviation mysteries out of the Vietnam War era.”