Daniel R. Poynor

© Enid News and Eagle

07-1995

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

ENID - In spirit, Capt. Daniel R. Poynor is back home.

A memorial service held Friday allowed family members and friends to say goodbye to Poynor, whose remains were returned to the United States earlier this month, 24 years after his jet crashed on a mission over Laos.

About 60 people, including 12 family members, attended the service at Enid Cemetery near the headstone marking Poynor's empty grave.

Poynor's remains will be buried Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, but attendance at the ceremony is limited to one family member.

A cousin from Colorado, Paula Bush, is planning to attend that ceremony, so Friday's service was a chance for family members and childhood friends to pay their last respects in Enid.

"Today, we're grateful for a chance to gather to honor Captain David Poynor, a hero to all who value the sacrifices of those who paid the debt of honor with the loss of their lives," said Air Force chaplain Maurice Neese.

"We're thankful that Daniel's remains have been brought back to us to relieve our minds from this anguish," said Poynor's uncle, the Rev. Roy Poynor of Fort Smith, Ark.

"I feel glad to know that Daniel is home at last. " While family members and friends sat under a blue tent, a military honor guard from Vance Air Force Base stood in the hot July sunshine.

The service ended with a 21-gun salute and the playing of "Taps. " Friends recalled that Poynor, a 1964 Enid High School graduate, was on the football team, in chorus and on the honor roll.

"He was a handsome young man with an infectious smile," said Enid dentist Dr. Jim Mabry, a classmate of Poynor's. Mabry said Poynor wanted to be an aviator. "He was proud that his late father had served as a naval aviator, and Dan's sights were set on that common love of flying that he shared with his dad," Mabry said.

Mabry, a Vietnam veteran who served in the 101st Airborne, said he was among high school classmates who served in the war. "There were those classmates who were returned in caskets, but Dan was our classmate who served and never returned.

Poynor, a navigator and captain in the Air Force at the time of his death, was shot down in an F-4D Phantom on Dec. 19, 1971. He was 25.

Poynor attended the University of Oklahoma and was commissioned in January 1969.

Poynor, a navigator and captain in the Air Force at the time of his death, was shot down in an F-4D Phantom on Dec. 19, 1971. He was 25.

Poynor and the jet's pilot, Capt. Leo T. Thomas Jr., posthumously were awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for leading a strike mission over Laos.

"There was always a chance he was picked up and made prisoner," Roy Poynor said. "You don't lose hope or anything, but there comes a time after so many years that you think less about his being alive. " The remains of Poynor and Thomas were recovered in March 1994 by a joint U.S.-Laotian search team.

Their names were released eight months after Poynor's mother, Paula, died. She was the last member of his immediate family.

"It was a terrible torment to his mother's heart," Roy Poynor said.

Poynor's brother, David Poynor, also died at 25 in a 1965 accident at Nellis Air Force Base. Their father, Amos Poynor, a World War II aviator who taught at Enid's Emerson Junior High School, died in 1957.

Daniel Roberts Poynor

© http://www.VirtualWall.org

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

© http://www.VirtualWall.org

Placement on the Wall:
Panel W2 Line 89

PERSONAL DATA:
Home of Record: Enid, OK
Date of birth: 06/12/1946

MILITARY DATA:
Service Branch: United States Air Force
Grade at loss: O2
Rank: Posthumous Promotion as indicated
Promotion Note: None
ID No: 446468294
MOS or Specialty: 1585: Navigator
Length Service: **
Unit: 523RD TAC FTR SQDN, 432ND TAC RECON WING, 7TH AF

CASUALTY DATA:
Start Tour: 12/17/1971
Incident Date: 12/19/1971
Casualty Date: 12/19/1971
Age at Loss: 25
Location: Laos
Remains: 1971 status: Body Not Recovered. Found later.
Casualty Type: Hostile, died while missing
Casualty Reason: Fixed Wing - Crew
Actual burial in Arlington National Cemetery

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