The Wall › Panel 4W › Florida › Randolph Jefferson Ard
RANDOLPH JEFFERSON ARD
Chief Warrant Officer 3 · U.S. Army
June 16, 1951 – March 7, 1971
Service recordRandolph Jefferson Ard, of West Pensacola, Florida, served as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the U.S. Army. He was lost on March 7, 1971, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 4W, Line 30 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 4W · Line 30
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. Army
- Rank
- Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 BDE 5 INF DIV UASAR AV HHC
- Born
- June 16, 1951
- Home of record
- West Pensacola, Florida (Escambia County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- March 7, 1971
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
11 names on the Wall carry the date March 7, 1971. In March 1971, 429 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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.
Also on Panel 4W, Line 30
- HARVEY WAYNE WRIGHTSpecialist Four · March 6, 1971
- MARK AFFLERBACHCaptain · March 7, 1971
- TERRY LEE BLAIRSpecialist Four · March 7, 1971
- PHILLIP MICHAEL BRANDONSpecialist Four · March 7, 1971
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.