The Wall › Panel 2W › New Jersey › Stephen Arthur Rusch
STEPHEN ARTHUR RUSCH
Captain · U.S. Air Force
July 28, 1943 – March 7, 1972
Service recordStephen Arthur Rusch, of Lambertville, New Jersey, served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on March 7, 1972, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 2W, Line 113 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2W · Line 113
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
- Captain (CAPT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Weapon Systems Officer (1555C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 TFS
- Born
- July 28, 1943
- Home of record
- Lambertville, New Jersey (Hunterdon County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- March 7, 1972
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
Three names on the Wall carry the date March 7, 1972. In March 1972, 69 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “4 TFS”, 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
Also on Panel 2W, Line 113
- ROBERT MONTOLVE DELGADOSergeant · March 6, 1972
- REGEN ALBERT MONETTESpecialist Four · March 6, 1972
- JAMES ROBERT BRYANTPrivate First Class · March 7, 1972
- CARTER AVERY HOWELLCaptain · March 7, 1972
Same unit, same day
- CARTER AVERY HOWELLCaptain · Panel 2W, Line 113
From Lambertville
- CHARLES LABAW DANBERRYPrivate First Class · May 23, 1968
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.