The Wall › Panel 33E › Pennsylvania › Richard Willis Minnich JR
RICHARD WILLIS MINNICH JR
Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy
March 4, 1942 – January 4, 1968
Service recordRichard Willis Minnich JR, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on January 4, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 33E, Line 39 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 33E · Line 39
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. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1310)
- Born
- March 4, 1942
- Home of record
- Collegeville, Pennsylvania (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 4, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
51 names on the Wall carry the date January 4, 1968. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
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 33E, Line 39
- BOBBY FOSTER HOLMANWarrant Officer 1 · January 4, 1968
- THOMAS MCCRAYCorporal · January 4, 1968
- MICHAEL FREDERICK MEYHOFFPrivate First Class · January 4, 1968
- DENNIS EDWARD MONTAGUELieutenant (junior grade) · January 4, 1968
From Collegeville
- ROBERT LEE VAUGHN JRPrivate First Class · May 21, 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.