Bradley Gene Cuthbert

Bradley Gene Cuthbert
U.S. Air Force
Major [O-4]
Biography:
Bradley Gene Cuthbert was a 1958 graduate of Fort Madison High School and a 1962 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. After graduation Cuthbert chose to join the Air Force and became a pilot specializing in the F-4 Phantom II jets. He deployed to South Vietnam in 1968 where he flew reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam. On November 23, 1968, MAJ Cuthbert’s 28th birthday, his aircraft was shot down. He was surveying surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam when his aircraft was hit. Both MAJ Cuthbert and his copilot ejected from the plane, the copilot reported seeing MAJ Cuthbert alive parachuting to the ground. He was initially reported as missing in action. Family believed they recognized Cuthbert in a North Vietnamese released video of prisoners of war in 1970, yet he was not among those freed during Operation Homecoming in 1973. The U.S. government promoted Cuthbert to Captain and changed his status from missing in action to presumed killed in action. In the early 1990s the Defense Department announced Cuthbert’s remains were located and repatriated to the United States. An updated military record noted killed in action. The family refuted this status and continues to consider Cuthbert as missing, as two teeth bones were returned and not the full remains.
County:
Lee
City of EntryFort Madison
Conflict/Time PeriodVietnam War
Service Location
Organization(s)
Separation StatusMissing in Action (MIA)
Specialty/Rate
Specific Jobs