The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade dig foxholes on Hill 875 near Đắk Tô, 22 November 1967.
Men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade dig foxholes on Hill 875 near Đắk Tô, 22 November 1967. Photo: SSG Alfred Batungbacal, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Rudolph Nathinal Ward.

The Wall › Panel 30E › Virginia › Rudolph Nathinal Ward

RUDOLPH NATHINAL WARD

Private First Class · U.S. Army

November 1, 1945 – November 19, 1967

Service record

Rudolph Nathinal Ward, of Portsmouth, Virginia, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on November 19, 1967, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 30E, Line 35 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 30E · Line 35

Position of Panel 30E 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Medical Equipment Repairer (91A)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
November 1, 1945
Home of record
Portsmouth, Virginia (Portsmouth (City) County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 19, 1967
Age
22
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

77 names on the Wall carry the date November 19, 1967; 42 of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In November 1967, 1,133 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 212 of its members that month.

He died in Kon Tum Province while the Battle of Đắk Tô was under way. Around Đắk Tô in the Central Highlands (3–23 November 1967), the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade fought North Vietnamese regiments for the hills along the border, ending with the assault on Hill 875 on Thanksgiving Day. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.

Also on Panel 30E, Line 35

Same unit, same day

From Portsmouth

All 41 names from Portsmouth →

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.