The Wall › Panel 34E › Wisconsin › James Alan Ketterer
JAMES ALAN KETTERER
Captain · U.S. Air Force
December 18, 1942 – January 20, 1968
Service recordJames Alan Ketterer, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on January 20, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 34E, Line 88 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 34E · Line 88
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
- Captain (CAPT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Pilot (1115R)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 389 TFS
- Born
- December 18, 1942
- Home of record
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Milwaukee County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 20, 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
57 names on the Wall carry the date January 20, 1968. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “389 TFS”, 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
Also on Panel 34E, Line 88
- SOLOMON KALUA JRCorporal · January 20, 1968
- GENE MARLOW KOSELSpecialist Four · January 20, 1968
- EDWARD KUBISKYSpecialist Four · January 20, 1968
- GERALD FRANCIS LENZPrivate First Class · January 20, 1968
Same unit, same day
- TILDEN STEWART HOLLEYLieutenant Colonel · Panel 34E, Line 87
From Milwaukee
- TOM JOSEPH CRESSLieutenant · January 6, 1961
- ROBERT BURGERTSergeant · February 13, 1963
- PETER MATTHEW FEIERABENDPrivate First Class · February 16, 1964
- THADDEUS ZAJACSpecialist Four · September 27, 1965
- JAMES CALVIN WARDPrivate First Class · October 11, 1965
- TIMOTHY HOLTON JOHNSONPrivate First Class · November 6, 1965
- RICHARD WILLIAM SCHWENDLERCorporal · November 16, 1965
- MICHAEL ALFRED GRUBERPrivate First Class · December 5, 1965
- RICHARD JOSEPH BRUNKEPrivate First Class · December 14, 1965
- MICHAEL PETER MORANPrivate First Class · January 9, 1966
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.