Wanzel, Charles Joseph III
Air Force Captain

Charles Joseph III Wanzel from New York City, New York, New York City county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: March 29, 1972
Death details: On June 26, 1986, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Charles Joseph Wanzel III, missing from the Vietnam War.
Captain Wanzel entered the U.S. Air Force from New York and was a member of the 16th Special Operations Squadron. On March 29, 1972, he copiloted an AC-130A gunship (tail number 55-0044, nicknamed “Prometheus”) that took off from Ubon Airfield, Thailand, on a night reconnaissance mission to targets east of Savannakhet in southern Laos. The aircraft was shot down by enemy surface-to-air missiles, killing Capt Wanzel and the other crew members. Search and rescue efforts were curtailed due to heavy enemy activity, and no remains could be recovered at that time. Between 1986 and 2006, joint U.S./Laotian teams excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province and recovered human remains and artifacts. Investigators were able to identify Capt Wanzel among the remains recovered.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency