Jimmy Lee Buckley

Jimmy Lee Buckley played football and basketball at Sac City High School, where he graduated in the class of 1953. Buckley earned two degrees from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA. He received his pilot’s wings in December 1956. Buckley married his high school sweetheart in February 1957. The Iowan went to South Vietnam in April 1967 aboard the USS <i>Constellation</i> as a pilot of an A-6 Intruder. He was among four aircraft on the strike of the Duc Noi rail yard four miles north of Hanoi, North Vietnam on August 21, 1968. The bombing party encountered several surface to air missiles on their approach of the communist capital. After hitting their targets, Commander Buckley’s aircraft was shot down over Chinese airspace. His co-pilot was captured by the North Vietnamese and held as a prisoner of war until 1973. Buckley was listed as missing in action, yet presumably died in the crash. His remains were returned by the Chinese government in December 1975. His ashes were buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Jimmy Buckley was 33 years old at the time of his death and he left behind a wife, two daughters, and a son.