By order of the Governor, flags over the State Capitol and all State office buildings are to fly at half-staff from sunrise until sunset on Saturday, March 2, 2019, in honor of the ultimate sacrifice of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard Lannom of Union City. Lannom was killed while serving in Vietnam and is now being brought home to Tennessee. We have attached more information below.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Courtney Rogers recognize the service and sacrifice of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard C. “Tito” Lannom of Union City, who was reported missing as of March 1, 1968 during the Vietnam War. The Obion County native was assigned to Attack Squadron Three Five, USS Enterprise and was on an A-6A aircraft on a night mission over North Vietnam when the aircraft went missing. Lannom and the pilot were declared missing after a search and rescue mission failed to locate the plane. Lannom was 27-years old when he went missing.

A Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) team excavated a crash site on Tra Ban Island between October and December 2017. The team was able to recover enough remains to share with the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. Personnel used DNA as well as evidence found at the crash site to identify Lannom on September 25, 2018.

“Lieutenant Lannom’s final resting place will finally be home, on Tennessee soil, where he belongs,” Lee said. “We are grateful to join the Lannom family in pausing to remember and recognize Lieutenant Lannom’s sacrifice for our state and country.”

“More than five decades of waiting is finally over and we are finally able to lay this Tennessee hero to rest with full honors,” Rogers said. “There is no way we can repay the debt of Lieutenant Lannom’s sacrifice, but we can give our commitment to remember his courage and to honor his family with our condolences and support. “

Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Discovery Park of America at 830 Everett Boulevard in Union City on Saturday, March 2 with funeral services beginning at 1:00 p.m. (CST). Questions regarding the Lannom arrangements can be referred to Skipper White at White-Ranson Funeral Home in Union City at (731) 885-1211.

Graveside ceremony will be held immediately following the funeral services at the Eastview Cemetery in Union City which is off of S. Miles Avenue and E. Church Street on Saturday, March 2. Lannom will be buried with full military honors to include a military flyover.

Lee has declared a day of mourning from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, March 2 in honor of Lannom’s ultimate sacrifice.

Lannom is survived by his widow Charlotte Shaw, nephews John and Ted Lannom and several cousins.

*Tennessee residents and businesses are encouraged to participate.