The Wall › Panel 14E › Oregon › Joseph Raye Ortis
JOSEPH RAYE ORTIS
Private First Class · U.S. Army
April 21, 1947 – January 17, 1967
Service recordJoseph Raye Ortis, of Oakland, Oregon, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on January 17, 1967, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 45 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 14E · Line 45
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.
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 INF DIV
- Born
- April 21, 1947
- Home of record
- Oakland, Oregon (Douglas County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 17, 1967
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
25 names on the Wall carry the date January 17, 1967; eight of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Dương Province while Operation Cedar Falls was under way. Operation Cedar Falls (8–26 January 1967) sent some 30,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into the “Iron Triangle” northwest of Saigon to destroy Viet Cong base areas and tunnels. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 14E, Line 45
- FRANK J KREBSPrivate First Class · January 17, 1967
- ALVA RAY KROGMANFirst Lieutenant · January 17, 1967
- ANTHONY PHILIP MAGISTROSpecialist Four · January 17, 1967
- STEVEN KENT ODIERPrivate First Class · January 17, 1967
Same unit, same day
- VICTOR LUIS TORRESPrivate · Panel 14E, Line 46
From Oakland
- JERRY JEROME COLEPrivate First Class · June 1, 1968
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.