The Wall › Panel 66E › Virginia › Melvin Douglas Rash
MELVIN DOUGLAS RASH
Chief Master Sergeant · U.S. Air Force
June 8, 1946 – May 22, 1968
Service recordMelvin Douglas Rash, of Yorktown, Virginia, served as a Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on May 22, 1968, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 66E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 66E · Line 1
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
- Chief Master Sergeant (CMSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Unit (as recorded)
- 41 TAS
- Born
- June 8, 1946
- Home of record
- Yorktown, Virginia (York County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- May 22, 1968
- 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
73 names on the Wall carry the date May 22, 1968. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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
On the Wall
Also on Panel 66E, Line 1
- FRED HARRISON OSBURN JRSpecialist Four · May 22, 1968
- RAYMOND BERNARD RALLSPrivate First Class · May 22, 1968
- JOHN HAROLD TOMENYSpecialist Five · May 22, 1968
From Yorktown
- DOUGLAS WARREN HOGGELance Corporal · June 5, 1966
- JAMES DOIL RADERCorporal · December 6, 1967
- ROBERT EUGENE MOSSMajor · March 1, 1968
- RODNEY GLENN OXENDINECorporal · August 12, 1969
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.