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Albert
Altizer
Altizer
CPL · · 11B10 · Infantryman
KIA
In-Country Service
1969-08-04 –
Home of Record
Squire, McDowell County, WV
Character of Service
Honorable
Archive Status
Active
Service timeline not yet compiled. If you served with or knew Albert Altizer, please use the contribute form to share what you remember.
1969-08-04
Arrived
Arrived in Vietnam — August 4, 1969
CPL Albert Altizer began his tour with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Airmobile), 1st Cavalry Division, Republic of Vietnam.
1969-10-08
Killed — Body Not Recovered
Lost in a river crossing — October 8, 1969
On October 8, 1969, CPL Albert Altizer drowned during a river crossing on the Song Be River, in Phuoc Binh Province. A platoon-sized patrol was crossing in two boats; Altizer — a member of Third Squad, with fellow squad members Joseph Benson and Jerome Taylor — boarded the first boat in full combat gear, with twelve other men. About fifty feet out the boat began taking on water as it accelerated; the lieutenant in charge ordered the men to drop their packs, but the craft capsized. The second boat ferried survivors to the Song Be Bridge. A head count found three men missing. The shoreline search that afternoon recovered Benson and Taylor, but not Altizer; only some of his equipment was found downstream, and the search for him went on for days. Later intelligence reported an American killed and buried in the vicinity of Binh Duong — a possible match to Altizer that was never confirmed. He was listed Killed, Body Not Recovered, and was promoted to Corporal while still listed missing. He remains officially Missing in Action, memorialized among the missing at the Courts of the Missing, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Honolulu Memorial), and on Panel 17W, Line 49 of the Wall. He was 20 years old and had been in Vietnam about nine weeks. See /events/river-crossing-song-be-1969-10-08/.
1969-10-08
Casualty record
Song Be River, Binh Duong Province, III Corps, RVN — vicinity grid coordinate XT 921 449
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