The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Billy Harrison Ratliff.

The Wall › Panel 7W › Kentucky › Billy Harrison Ratliff

BILLY HARRISON RATLIFF

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 9, 1949 – September 24, 1970

Service record

Billy Harrison Ratliff, of Pomeroyton, Kentucky, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on September 24, 1970, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 7W, Line 87 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 7W · Line 87

Position of Panel 7W 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.

See this name on the Wall

Remember

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Share a photo or memoryPhotos & remembrances on VVMF’s Wall of Faces ↗

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantry Operations And Intelligence Specialist (11F)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
October 9, 1949
Home of record
Pomeroyton, Kentucky (Menifee County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 24, 1970
Age
20
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

Ten names on the Wall carry the date September 24, 1970; three of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In September 1970, 364 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 30 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 7W, Line 87

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.