The Wall › Panel 38W › Oregon › August Karl Ritzau
AUGUST KARL RITZAU
First Lieutenant · U.S. Army
July 23, 1945 – November 27, 1968
Service recordAugust Karl Ritzau, of Clackamas, Oregon, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 27, 1968, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 38W, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38W · Line 78
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. Army
- Rank
- First Lieutenant (1LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Air Observation Pilot (1981)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AVN BDE
- Born
- July 23, 1945
- Home of record
- Clackamas, Oregon (Clackamas County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- November 27, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
61 names on the Wall carry the date November 27, 1968; 33 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 33 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 38W, Line 78
- WILLIAM DAVID RAYPrivate First Class · November 27, 1968
- WAYNE JOHNATHAN ROGERSCorporal · November 27, 1968
- JOHN ROGER RYAN JRCorporal · November 27, 1968
- DWIGHT CUTLER SARJEANTFirst Lieutenant · November 27, 1968
Same unit, same day
- NICHOLAS RICHARD ALEXANDERChief Warrant Officer 2 · Panel 38W, Line 70
- JAMES GREGORY BRADYSpecialist Four · Panel 38W, Line 71
- DAVID DEWITT CREELSpecialist Five · Panel 38W, Line 72
- FREDRICK HARRY FRAZERSpecialist Four · Panel 38W, Line 72
- JEROME DEE CHANDLERSergeant · Panel 38W, Line 73
- ALLEN EUGENE DUNEMANWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 38W, Line 73
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.