Air Force Asks for New Search of F-16 Pilot Troy Gilbert’s Remains in Iraq
By Luis Martinez
The Air Force has agreed to a family’s plea that the Pentagon renew the search for the body of Major Troy Gilbert, whose F-16 fighter jet crashed in Iraq in 2006 as he came to the rescue of troops pinned down by enemy fire. His full remains were never recovered.
Gilbert’s remains were shown on an insurgent video taken at the crash site, but when American troops arrived at the wreckage they did not find his body.
A small amount of tissue found on the plane’s canopy was positively identified through DNA testing as belonging to Gilbert and was enough to classify him as “killed in action.”
It was that small set of remains that was interred at Arlington National Cemetery and in the years since Gilbert’s family has held out hope that the search would continue for the rest of his remains.
When the last of the American troops left Iraq last December, the family was shocked to learn that no searches were being conducted for the rest of Gilbert’s remains because he is listed as killed in action, “body accounted for.”
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