ARLINGTON, Va. -
Lt. Jack C. Rittichier is the embodiment of courage Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thomas Collins said.
Rittichier, 34, was the pilot of an HH-3E helicopter that had departed from Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam on June 9, 1968, on a rescue mission for a downed U.S. pilot.
His helicopter was struck by enemy fire and exploded in a fireball.
Lt. Jack Rittichier is one of seven Coast Guardsmen killed in Vietnam Collins said. All hands are now accounted for.
Joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams searched for the crash site in Vietnam, but came up empty each time. Then in May 2002, officials received information about a crash near Ban Kaboui, Laos, about nine miles from the reported wartime loss location.
The U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii identified the remains recovered at the wreckage as those of the pilots and crew.
Collins granted permission for Rittichier to be buried on Coast Guard Hill. At the grave site, seven riflemen shot three times each and a solo bugler played taps. A Coast Guard bagpipe band played Amazing Grace as four red and white helicopters circled the hill.
Collins presented a flag to Rittichier's oldest brother, David.
Also killed in the Vietnam mission were Rittichier's co-pilot, Air Force Capt. Richard C. Yeend Jr. of Mobile, Ala.; and two crew members, Air Force Sgt. James D. Locker of Sidney, Ohio, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Elmer L. Holden of Oklahoma City.
Rittichier played football at a suburban Akron high school, then served as captain of the 1955 Kent State Golden Flashes.
He was commissioned as an Air Force officer and was discharged as a captain in 1963 to take part in a pilot exchange program with the Coast Guard. Two weeks after arriving in Vietnam, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
He is survived by his widow of 11 years, Carol Wypick of Fountain Valley, Calif., and two brothers, one from Tennessee and the other from Texas.
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Dave Rittichier, brother of Coast Guard Lt. Jack C. Rittichier, the only Coast Guardsman who was missing in action from the Vietnam War, pauses at his casket after his funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., yesterday. Lt. Ritti
