Gene T. Wright served in the U.S. Air Force as a Major with the 4220th Air Refueling Squadron, 4252nd Strategic Wing, Strategic Air Command during the Vietnam War. The commander of a KC-135A Stratotanker (#56-3629), he died on December 19, 1969, when his aircraft crashed after take-off from Ching Chuan Kang Air Field in Taiwan while departing on a refueling mission over the South China Sea. The wreckage was located days later in the waters of the Formosa Strait. He was awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross.
