Ratzel, Wesley Dallas
Air Force Captain

Wesley Dallas Ratzel, age 25, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: May 18, 1972
Death details: On June 1, 1989, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILH, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Wasley Dallas Ratzel, missing from the Vietnam War.

Captain Ratzel joined the U.S. Air Force from Pennsylvania and was a member of the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron. On May 18, 1972, he piloted an F-4D Phantom II (serial number 66-7612) on a combat mission near Kep Airfield in Vietnam. Captain Ratzel’s aircraft was shot down during the mission, and he was killed in the crash. Immediate search efforts failed to locate him. In December 1988, the Vietnamese government returned Capt Ratzel’s remains to U.S. custody, with forensic analysis confirming the identification shortly thereafter.

Cemetery: Arlington National

Source: National Archives., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com