Chapter 436 Buries Its Namesake

BY BUD McCULLOUGH

Forty-five years ago, on April 30, 1968, Maj. Louis Fulda Guillermin disappeared over Laos while navigating an A-26A aircraft. Maj. Guillermin and his pilot, Lt.Col. Robert Pietsch, went down in Savannakhet Province, Laos—about ten miles east of the city of Ban Muong Sen. They were declared Missing in Action in 1973.

In 1988 Chapter 436 received its VVA charter and was named the Major Louis F. Guillermin Memorial Chapter of Chester County, Pa., in honor of its missing native son. He was the only child of Wister and Myrtle Booker Guillermin, and graduated from West Chester Joint Senior High School in 1960. He participated in the school’s marching band and was on the golf team. The 1960 yearbook claims: “Lou plays a terrific trumpet, drives a cool red ’49 Chevy, is interested in electronics, and enjoys hunting and fishing.”

After earning an associate’s degree at Penn State and a bachelor’s at West Chester University, Guillermin joined the U.S. Air Force as an aviation cadet. He received his pilot’s training at Lackland Air Force Base and additional radar and celestial navigation instruction at Connally Air Force Base.

The B-26 was redesigned after World War II for counterinsurgency warfare, its armament updated, and rechristened the A-26A. The aircraft could remain on station for a long time, searching out and attacking an enemy concealed by jungle in the night or bad weather in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

The crash site of Guillermin’s plane was discovered in 2006. After the removal of weapons and armament, remains were sent to JPAC at Hickam AFB. On May 28, 2013, DNA analysis positively identified the remains as Guillermin’s. Twenty-five years after Chapter 436 was founded, its namesake was accounted for.

On October 4, at Philadelphia International Airport, the U.S. Air Force will transfer the casket containing the remains of Maj. Guillermin to the Edward L. Collins Funeral Home. Chapter 436 and Warriors Watch Riders will assist in the dignified transfer at the airport and will escort the hearse to Oxford, Pa.

A funeral service is planned for Saturday, October 5, with full military honors at Collins Funeral Home, 86 Pine Street, Oxford, beginning at 9 o’clock. Afterward, Maj. Guillermin will be buried next to his parents at Glenwood Memorial Gardens in Broomall, Pa.

The funeral procession will be escorted by Warriors Watch Riders and members of A Hero’s Welcome. Members of all VVA chapters are invited to join Chapter 436 in paying respect to the supreme sacrifice made by Maj. Louis F. Guillermin in service to America.

For additional information, contact Bud McCullough at americaneagle19380@yahoo.com or 610-431-3799.