Herman Ludwig Knapp was born on April 11, 1929, to Frieda and Ludwig Knapp. He had one sister, Wilma. His home of record is Roselle, NJ. Herman graduated from Abraham Clark High School in Roselle in 1947. He enjoyed golf, tennis, fishing, handball, football, basketball, hunting, water-skiing and snow-skiing. During his military career, he was an avid fighter pilot and test pilot.
Knapp was a member of the Rutgers University Navy ROTC from 1947 to 1951. He graduated in 1951, with a degree in civil engineering. He began service in the US Air Force in June 1951 and was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base. Knapp continued his education and graduated from Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1958. In 1963, he graduated from Army Command & Staff School.
Knapp entered the US Air Force and attained the rank of Colonel (COL. He served in the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. On April 24, 1967, Knapp’s plane was hit and sent streaming to the ground when he was dispatched to bomb a large Mig base to get rid of the enemy Migs. He was declared Missing In Action since his remains were never recovered and designated PFOD (Preferred Finding of Death).
He was survived by his wife, Helene, and two children, Robert and Cynthia.
Knapp was awarded numerous medals and decorations including the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Air Medal (with first oak leaf cluster), the Air Medal (with second through seventh oak leaf cluster), and the Purple Heart.
There is a memorial at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ dedicated to the graduates who were killed or missing in action from the Vietnam War. Knapp’s name is listed among those missing in action.
At the Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorado, there is a plaque for Herman L. Knapp, located in the MIA area.
Synopsis (from the POW Network) as to the circumstances behind being listed as MIA:
On April 24, 1967, Charles Austin was serving as bombardier/navigator on board Major Herman L. Knapp’s F4C Phantom fighter/bomber. The aircraft was the lead in a flight of four dispatched from Ubon Airfield, Thailand on a strike mission over Vietnam. The strike was on a five-span bridge four miles north of the center of Hanoi. The raid’s purpose was to sever North Vietnam’s rail links with communist China. An electrical transformer station seven miles north of Hanoi was also attacked.
During the strike, Knapp and Austin’s aircraft was struck by a flak burst, disintegrated, and two large pieces of flaming wreckage were seen to strike the ground in a fireball. No parachutes were seen and no beepers were heard. Nevertheless, it was apparently believed that Knapp and Austin may have exited the aircraft, as both men were classified missing in action, rather than killed in action, body not recovered. Eleven years later, based on no information to indicate the two were alive, they were administratively declared dead.
Sources: Helene Knapp (widow), newspaper clippings, POW Network and NJVVMF.
12/17/2024
