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 Ronald James Janousek.

The Wall › Panel 20W › Illinois › Ronald James Janousek

RONALD JAMES JANOUSEK

First Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps

July 21, 1945 – August 9, 1969

Service record

Ronald James Janousek, of Posen, Illinois, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 9, 1969, in Laos, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 20W, Line 118 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 20W · Line 118

Position of Panel 20W 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. Marine Corps
Rank
First Lieutenant (1STLT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Frs Basic Ch-46 Pilot (I) (7561)
Unit (as recorded)
HML 367 MAG 36 1 MAW FMFPAC
Born
July 21, 1945
Home of record
Posen, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 9, 1969
Age
24
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

20 names on the Wall carry the date August 9, 1969. In August 1969, 962 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “HML 367 MAG 36 1 MAW FMFPAC”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

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 20W, Line 118

Same unit, same day

From Posen

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.