The Wall › Panel 34E › Wisconsin › Robert Frederick Wilke
ROBERT FREDERICK WILKE
Colonel · U.S. Air Force
September 14, 1925 – January 17, 1968
Service recordRobert Frederick Wilke, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on January 17, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 34E, Line 65 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 34E · Line 65
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
- Colonel (COL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Pilot (1115J)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 602 FTR SQ
- Born
- September 14, 1925
- Home of record
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Milwaukee County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 17, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- 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
22 names on the Wall carry the date January 17, 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
Also on Panel 34E, Line 65
- KENNETH RAY BELSARPrivate First Class · January 17, 1968
- ARTHUR DWIGHT SINGLETONPrivate First Class · January 17, 1968
- MIKE RALPH VELASCOSergeant · January 17, 1968
- CHARLES EDGAR WUERTENBERGERCaptain · January 17, 1968
From Milwaukee
- TOM JOSEPH CRESSLieutenant · January 6, 1961
- ROBERT BURGERTSergeant · February 13, 1963
- PETER MATTHEW FEIERABENDPrivate First Class · February 16, 1964
- THADDEUS ZAJACSpecialist Four · September 27, 1965
- JAMES CALVIN WARDPrivate First Class · October 11, 1965
- TIMOTHY HOLTON JOHNSONPrivate First Class · November 6, 1965
- RICHARD WILLIAM SCHWENDLERCorporal · November 16, 1965
- MICHAEL ALFRED GRUBERPrivate First Class · December 5, 1965
- RICHARD JOSEPH BRUNKEPrivate First Class · December 14, 1965
- MICHAEL PETER MORANPrivate First Class · January 9, 1966
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.