In July of 1968, Major Robert E. Olson, USAF, (M.S. Aerospace Engineering, 1968) was deployed to Pleiku, Vietnam.  On February 5, 1969, the EC-47 aircraft carrying Maj Olson was shot down over Laos. All 10 Airmen on board were killed in action and interred together at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.  Thanks to DNA testing, Maj Olson's remains were positively identified and returned to his family.  He will be interred at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery at 1 PM on Monday, June 22. This is where he would have come home to live after his deployment. This is where he will come home to stay.

Read more in the article "St. Paul Air Force major's remains finally confirmed, come home after 46 years" by Stephen Montemayor of the Start Tribune.

The Icarus statue, a project commissioned by the AFIT Foundation, is intended to memorialize those graduates of AFIT who have lost their lives in the service of their country.