Remains of Valley man killed in Vietnam will finally be laid to rest in second burial ceremony

PHOENIX - Forty-six years after their father died in Vietnam, two Valley brothers finally have his remains to bury.

Air Force Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling, of Phoenix, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in June, but will be honored with another ceremony on Wednesday, the anniversary of his death.

Wednesday’s burial will be a group ceremony, where unidentified remains, presumed to be those of Maj. Aado Kommendant, Walling’s colleague, and possibly also of Walling, will be buried.

Mike and Jeff Walling of Scottsdale, Charles’ sons, are in Washington, D.C. for the ceremony.

"It's something we never expected", Jeff told ABC15 via Skype.

Walling and Kommendant were flying an F-4C aircraft when they crashed over Song Be Province, Vietnam on Aug 8, 1966. A search for them in the days following the crash was unsuccessful.

Walling's metal identification tag was recovered in 1994. An excavation of the crash site in 2010 turned up human remains.