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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 Walter Herold.

The Wall › Panel 1W › New Jersey › Richard Walter Herold

RICHARD WALTER HEROLD

Captain · U.S. Air Force

December 3, 1944 – September 2, 1972

Service record

Richard Walter Herold, of Metuchen, New Jersey, served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He died on September 2, 1972, in Laos, at age 27. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 69 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 69

Position of Panel 1W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Air Force
Rank
Captain (CAPT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Unit (as recorded)
DET 1 56 SOW UDORN AB
Born
December 3, 1944
Home of record
Metuchen, New Jersey (Middlesex County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 2, 1972
Age
27
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

Three names on the Wall carry the date September 2, 1972. In September 1972, 36 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

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 1W, Line 69

From Metuchen

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.