Shot down in Vietnam, family of CWU graduate has new hope

The return of the remains of the final military member from Kittitas County who died in Vietnam may be getting closer.

CWU alumnus Maj. San DeWayne Francisco, an air force fighter pilot, was shot down in 1968—six days before he was scheduled to return home—on a mission in which filled in for another aviator who had taken ill.

Francisco, a 1966 graduate of CWU, was inducted into the CWU Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 1963 football team.

His remains, which lie somewhere in a Vietnamese jungle. The Tri-City Herald has published an article about the latest hope that his sister, Terri, says is the best news in nearly 50 years.

Photo: The search for the remains of MIA Air Force Maj. San D. Francisco, a CWU graduate who served in Vietnam, has turned up some items that give his family hope he will be found. Courtesy Terri Francisco-Farrell