The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966.
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Charles James Ramsay.

The Wall › Panel 35E › New Jersey › Charles James Ramsay

CHARLES JAMES RAMSAY

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Marine Corps

June 8, 1932 – January 21, 1968

Service record

Charles James Ramsay, of Newark, New Jersey, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was lost on January 21, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 35E · Line 8

Position of Panel 35E 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

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.

Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Engineer Officer (I) (1302)
Unit (as recorded)
HQ CO HQ BN 3 MARDIV
Born
June 8, 1932
Home of record
Newark, New Jersey (Essex County)

Casualty

Date of loss
January 21, 1968
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
First reported
Missing in action

Context · from the records

What was happening

42 names on the Wall carry the date January 21, 1968. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “HQ CO HQ BN 3 MARDIV”, 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.

Also on Panel 35E, Line 8

From Newark

All 110 names from Newark →

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.