The Wall › Panel 5W › Alabama › Ralph Nathaniel Pattillo
RALPH NATHANIEL PATTILLO
Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force
December 26, 1934 – February 16, 1971
Service recordRalph Nathaniel Pattillo, of Hartselle, Alabama, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on February 16, 1971, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 5W, Line 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 5W · Line 112
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
- Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Pilot (1115F)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 497 TFS 8 TFW
- Born
- December 26, 1934
- Home of record
- Hartselle, Alabama (Morgan County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- February 16, 1971
- 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
Ten names on the Wall carry the date February 16, 1971. In February 1971, 387 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “497 TFS 8 TFW”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in Laos while Operation Lam Son 719 was under way. In Lam Son 719 (February–March 1971), South Vietnamese troops drove into Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, carried and supported by U.S. helicopters and aircraft; more than 100 U.S. helicopters were lost.
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 5W, Line 112
- JAMES MARTIN SIMONSpecialist Four · February 16, 1971
- JAMES HUBERT STAFFORDSergeant First Class · February 16, 1971
- GORDON ALAN STOAKLEYStaff Sergeant · February 16, 1971
- RICHARD DEAN BUCKLESCorporal · February 17, 1971
Same unit, same day
- CHARLES LEE HOSKINSCaptain · Panel 5W, Line 111
From Hartselle
- PAUL GEORGE HENDRIXStaff Sergeant · July 15, 1966
- GARY BLUITT HARRISSergeant · April 1, 1968
- JOHNNIE BRUCE SEWELLCorporal · July 25, 1968
- GERALD BRUCE LANEPrivate First Class · March 5, 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.