The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Richard Castillo.

The Wall › Panel 2W › Texas › Richard Castillo

RICHARD CASTILLO

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force

November 21, 1938 – March 29, 1972

Service record

Richard Castillo, of Corpus Christi, Texas, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on March 29, 1972, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 2W, Line 121 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 2W · Line 121

Position of Panel 2W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Regular
Occupation
Navigator (1535C)
Born
November 21, 1938
Home of record
Corpus Christi, Texas (Multiple County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 29, 1972
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action

Context · from the records

What was happening

18 names on the Wall carry the date March 29, 1972. In March 1972, 69 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.

Also on Panel 2W, Line 121

From Corpus Christi

All 99 names from Corpus Christi →

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.