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Although Air Force Maj. William Watkins and Capt. Eric Das, were aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter that went down in Iraq around 7:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 6, the U.S. military refused to designate the two airmen missing in action (MIA).
Military representatives met the next day with the families of Maj. Watkins and Capt. Das and told them that the "pilots whereabouts were unknown."
On April 18, 2003, the Pentagon said the remains of missing F-15E pilot Capt. Eric B. Das had been recovered and identified and that his status was changed from missing to killed in action.
The search for the plane's weapons system officer was continuing, it said.
The Pentagon provided no details on when or how his remains were recovered. It said the whereabouts of the other crew member, whose name the Pentagon had not released publicly, is still unknown.
It was unclear April 18, whether only one set of remains was found at the crash site or whether additional remains were found but had not yet been positively identified.
The fighter jet was reported to have been shot down near Tikrit, although the Pentagon has never publicly confirmed that.
Das' parents, Bruce and Rosie Das, issued a statement saying their son was killed on Sunday evening April 6, which was early Monday morning in Iraq. They said he was on a bombing mission in an F-15E Strike Eagle over northern Iraq when the plane went down under undetermined circumstances.