In 1968, U.S. Air Force Sergeant David S. Price, of Centralia, was one of 19 service members assigned to guard Lima Site 85, a tactical air navigation radar location perched atop the Phou Pha Thi mountain in Laos’ Houaphan Province.
On March 11, 1968, Lima Site 85 was overrun by a North Vietnamese attack, forcing Price and his fellow service members to retreat and seek safety on one of the mountain’s narrow ledges. After a few hours, U.S. helicopters were able to rescue the men, but not after 11 of them — including Price — were reportedly killed in action.
A graduate of Centralia High School, Price was 26 when he was killed.
The remains of those killed were unable to be recovered. Now, more than 66 years later, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced it has finally identified Price’s remains, according to a July 21 news release.
Price’s family was previously unsure where his remains might have been as in 2003 remains of one of Price’s fellow service members were discovered on a ledge of Phou Pha Thi as previously reported by The Chronicle.
Other boots and U.S. service member items were also discovered, but it was unknown if Price’s remains were still there or if he had actually survived and was taken to a prison camp in Russia at the time.
Prior to this, in 1994, the DPAA had actually already started joint recovery operations with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR), though no remains were found at the time.
Between 1994 and 2009, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam also helped assist the DPAA and LPDR, pursuing dozens of witness leads and conducting interviews with those involved in the March 11, 1968 attack.
Despite these combined efforts, it wasn’t until 2023 when DPAA personnel along with partner organization members discovered unexploded ordinance and other battle-related materials along with possible human remains from a research site .
Armed Forces Medical Examiner System scientists used mitochondrial DNA analysis in conjunction with the DPAA using circumstantial evidence to positively identify the remains discovered last year as Price’s.
“Today, Price is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.,” the release stated. “A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.”
Now that his remains have been identified, Price will be buried in Centralia on Aug. 30. For more information, call the U.S. Air Force Casualty Office at 800-531-5501.
David Price
A plaque honoring Price was placed on the Veterans Memorial Museum Wall of Honor, located outside the building in Chehalis, in the early 2000s. The plaque was paid for by the Centralia High School Class of 1959.
Judy Outland, a representative from the class 1959, told The Chronicle in 2005 that she helped raise money for the project when the museum opened.
"He was a wonderful guy," Outland said of Price at the time, though she admitted she could remember few other details from 46 years ago.
According to the 1959 yearbook, the Skookum Wawa, Price was a member of the band for four years, and during his junior and senior years, he played in concerts and was a member of the pep band.
He was also president of the service club his senior year and president of the projectionists club his junior year.
In the back of the yearbook, seniors wrote one thing they'd will at the end of their high school careers.
"I, David Price, will all of the paper stuffed down my sousaphone to the Boys "C" Club (which consisted of the school's athletic letter winners)," Price wrote in 1959.
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