Operation Desert Storm had just begun, and this Jan. 17, 1991, U.S. strike was the first against Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces.
After carrying out their mission to attack radar sites, the jets returned to the Saratoga.
All except one.
CBS 60 Minutes II Photo–Speicher is seen in a video made aboard the Saratoga shortly before his last mission.Speicher, 33, did not come back. Some of the aviators recalled a particularly bright explosion on the run near Baghdad. They thought Speicher was hit by an air-to-air missile and ejected. They hoped he would be found and brought home.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/06/prweb253101.htm
http://kimbas.faithweb.com/Speicher2.html