HOBART, IN, U.S.A.
U.S. AIR FORCE
LT COL, 11th TACTICAL RECON SQDN, 432ND TACTICAL RECON WING, 7th AIR FORCE
10/28/1968, NORTH VIETNAM
My name is Cindy Stonebraker…I am the daughter of LT COL Kenneth Stonebraker. On October 28, 1968, my father left Udorn Airfield, Thailand on a solo night recon mission over North Vietnam. He never returned from that mission.
This year (2015) will mark 47 years my father has been missing in Vietnam. No crash site was ever found, no remains ever recovered. No closure. Growing up this was something we just didn’t talk about. We didn’t talk about it at home and we certainly didn’t talk about it in public.
For over 42 years I didn’t deal with it. 4 years ago I had the opportunity to meet another MIA child, and that day changed my life forever. Now I’ve had the opportunity to meet 7 other MIA children, been able to spend father’s day at the Wall, and my father now has a memorial marker in the memorial section at Arlington. I’ve located the reel to reel tapes my mom and dad sent back and forth, and last year I was able to hear my daddy sing happy birthday, 45 years later. I now have his military records and have been slowly piecing together the person who is my father.
Last October I had the blessing of being able to sit and talk with 3 men who served with my father…..at the time of the incident. As you could imagine, I had a million questions, and they were so gracious about answering them…all the things I wanted to know, about his favorite foods, his sense of humor, what the plane was like and what was his job.
It has been an amazing adventure that I so look forward to continuing. It would be an honor to have a portrait of my father. I only have 4 photos of him and they are all small…..if possible I would like the one with his head set, as this is my favorite photo of him…..that’s the picture that everyone says I look like him. I have also attached the only photo I have with me and my daddy.