Burial for MIA Vietnam pilot at Air Force Academy

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Burial for MIA Vietnam pilot at Air Force Academy

The Associated Press

Posted: 07/15/2011 07:29:02 AM MDT

Updated: 07/15/2011 07:53:45 PM MDT

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—An Air Force pilot from Colorado who disappeared in North Vietnam 45 years ago was buried Friday at the Air Force Academy.

The remains of Col. Leo Boston of Canon City were identified three months ago using DNA testing. He was buried next to his wife, Dorothy, in a cemetery on the grounds.

His wife died in 1988 without knowing if her husband would ever be found.

Boston, a Canon City native, joined the Air Force after college. He and his wife, his high school sweetheart, had three children.

"There were many times when we thought we would never see this day," said Stephanie Danielson, Boston's daughter.

Boston was flying an A-1 Skyraider and his mission was locating downed Air Force comrades in Vietnam and using bombs, rockets and gunfire to protect them until help arrived. He disappeared in 1966 in dense jungle in Son La Province while looking for downed flyer.

In 1978, the Air Force told the family that he was presumed dead. His wife spent years urging politicians and generals to find her husband's remains.

New scientific methods helped identify Boston's remains

Gov. John Hickenlooper has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered for the day to honor Boston.

Boston's daughter, Bethany Boston-Johnson, lives in the Vail Valley and told the Vail Daily that the amount of respect being shown to her father has been overwhelming. She said a motorcade of 65 bikers accompanied the hearse holding her father's remains as it traveled from the Denver airport to Colorado Springs.

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com