The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Ernest Ricker.

The Wall › Panel 40W › Oregon › William Ernest Ricker

WILLIAM ERNEST RICKER

Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy

June 1, 1933 – October 28, 1968

Service record

William Ernest Ricker, of Portland, Oregon, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on October 28, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 40W, Line 50 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 40W · Line 50

Position of Panel 40W 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

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Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Medical Corps (2105)
Unit (as recorded)
H & MS 13
Born
June 1, 1933
Home of record
Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County)

Casualty

Date of loss
October 28, 1968
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South 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

24 names on the Wall carry the date October 28, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In October 1968, 821 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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.

Also on Panel 40W, Line 50

From Portland

All 183 names from Portland →

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.