The Wall › Panel 46W › Montana › Alan Frederick Ashall
ALAN FREDERICK ASHALL
Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy
June 6, 1943 – August 29, 1968
Service recordAlan Frederick Ashall, of Billings, Montana, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on August 29, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 46W, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 46W · Line 56
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. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1325)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VA 85
- Born
- June 6, 1943
- Home of record
- Billings, Montana (Yellowstone County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- August 29, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
54 names on the Wall carry the date August 29, 1968. In August 1968, 1,313 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “VA 85”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
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.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 46W, Line 56
- DAVID LYNN ANDREWSLance Corporal · August 29, 1968
- DANIEL JACQUES BOTTANPrivate First Class · August 29, 1968
- LARRY LEONARD FINCHERPrivate First Class · August 29, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT RAY DUNCANLieutenant · Panel 46W, Line 57
From Billings
- KENNETH LEE DERHEIMStaff Sergeant · December 19, 1965
- DOUGLAS DUANE KERNSergeant · November 16, 1966
- FRANK GARCIA JRCorporal · August 4, 1967
- JAMES LYNN BURNSFirst Lieutenant · December 21, 1967
- GREGORY ALLEN GIFFORDPetty Officer Third Class · February 8, 1968
- RALPH LEROY WILLIAMSFirst Lieutenant · February 15, 1968
- CHARLES GOODHUE BOYERPrivate First Class · March 6, 1968
- DAVID GEORGE ANDERSONPrivate First Class · March 6, 1968
- MICHAEL DAVID PADILLALance Corporal · April 20, 1968
- LARRY JAMES BURKHARDTPrivate First Class · May 27, 1968
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.