A TCU fighter pilot went missing in Vietnam. His family waited decades to bring him home to Texas.
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FORT WORTH, TEXAS (Nov. 10, 2026) — For 20 years, a blue Corvette sat in a garage in Gatesville, Texas. Air Force Capt. William Elmo Powell bought the car before he deployed. After his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1968, his parents kept it, hoping one day he would come home and drive it again. This American hero’s story – and the fascinating path that returned him with honor to Texas – is told in full in the cover story of TCU Magazin e, which is being released in honor of Veterans Day. Among the nearly 81,000 American service members who remain unaccounted for are 22 TCU students and graduates. Powell is the only missing Horned Frog recovered to date. Powell, a 1965 Texas Christian University graduate who joined Air Force ROTC on campus, was 25 when he went missing. His family held a memorial after the Air Force declared him killed in action in 1973. His parents died before the first of his remains were returned in 1988. Years after that burial, DNA testing identified additional remains, and the family gathered to bury him again. “Nobody should have to bury the same person twice after already having a memorial service,” his nephew Bryan Powell told TCU Magazine . The magazine’s winter cover story draws on official accounts from the U.S. Government and eyewitnesses in Vietnam, family interviews, Powell’s wartime diary and photographs. Among the items his family kept were small reel-to-reel tapes they had recorded to send him news from home. Today, TCU partners with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to help investigate other cases. TCU historian and Army veteran Matt Kotowski searches military records, photographs and other archival materials for clues about what happened to service members who remain missing Read the full TCU Magazine story A Hero’s Return Download images and credits Photographs to compliment the story The content is available for Veterans Day coverage. Please credit TCU Magazine and use the individual photo credits provided with the images. Media Contact: Holly Ellman Associate Director of Communication 817.257.NEWS (6397) [email protected] Related Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative for adhering to standards for ethical journalism .