The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Alan Dale Piittmann.

The Wall › Panel 12E › Iowa › Alan Dale Piittmann

ALAN DALE PIITTMANN

Chief Master Sergeant · U.S. Air Force

March 27, 1945 – November 16, 1966

Service record

Alan Dale Piittmann, of Shelby, Iowa, served as a Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on November 16, 1966, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 12E, Line 80 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 12E · Line 80

Position of Panel 12E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Air Force
Rank
Chief Master Sergeant (CMSGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Aircraft Maintenance Superintendent (43191)
Unit (as recorded)
5 ACS
Born
March 27, 1945
Home of record
Shelby, Iowa (Shelby County)

Casualty

Date of loss
November 16, 1966
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

21 names on the Wall carry the date November 16, 1966. In November 1966, 641 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 12E, Line 80

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.