The Wall › Panel 5E › Pennsylvania › Ernst Philip Kiefel JR
ERNST PHILIP KIEFEL JR
Colonel · U.S. Air Force
May 11, 1933 – February 10, 1966
Service recordErnst Philip Kiefel JR, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on February 10, 1966, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 23 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 5E · Line 23
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
- Colonel (COL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Bombardier (1521J)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 13 BOMB SQ
- Born
- May 11, 1933
- Home of record
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Dauphin County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- February 10, 1966
- Country
- Laos
- 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
13 names on the Wall carry the date February 10, 1966. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “13 BOMB SQ”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
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.
Read the history
Also on Panel 5E, Line 23
- M L MCCLELLANPrivate First Class · February 10, 1966
- WARREN GARY PETERSONPrivate First Class · February 10, 1966
- TEOFILO CASTILLO PIMENTELSergeant First Class · February 10, 1966
- JOHN SARGEANT VOEGTLIPrivate First Class · February 10, 1966
Same unit, same day
- RUSSELL PALMER HUNTER JRLieutenant Colonel · Panel 5E, Line 22
From Harrisburg
- DONALD RICHARD TAYLORPrivate First Class · February 9, 1964
- MARLIN E MCCAHANCaptain · June 24, 1964
- SAMUEL LEE MCDONALDPrivate First Class · November 15, 1965
- J RANDALL GIPELance Corporal · January 6, 1966
- JOHN JOSEPH PALUSCIOPrivate First Class · January 30, 1966
- BILLY ALBERT THOMPSONSergeant First Class · April 24, 1966
- STANLEY LOUIS HORWITZPrivate First Class · October 21, 1966
- JERRY POTTSCorporal · November 26, 1966
- OWEN FRANCIS NEUMYERSergeant · December 10, 1966
- RICHARD ELWOOD FINKCorporal · January 7, 1967
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.