FISCHER, RICHARD W.
Burial 11/19/2007

Name: Richard W. Fischer
Rank/Branch: USMC E3
Unit: M 3/5 1ST MAR DIV
Date of Birth: 15 June 47
Home City of Record: Madison, WI
Date of Loss: 08 January 68
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 155456N 1081058E
Status (in 1973): Missing
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel In Incident:

Source: Compiled by THE P.O.W. NETWORK 02 February 93 from the
following published sources - POW/MIA's -- Report of the Select Committee
on POW/MIA Affairs United States Senate -- January 13, 1993. "The Senate
Select Committee staff has prepared case summaries for the priority cases
that the Administration is now investigating. These provide the facts about
each case, describe the circumstances under which the individual was lost,
and detail the information learned since the date of loss.  Information in
the case summaries is limited to information from casualty files, does not
include any judgments by Committee staff, and attempts to relate essential
facts. The Committee acknowledges that POW/MIAs' primary next-of- kin know
their family members' cases in more comprehensive detail than summarized
here and recognizes the limitations that the report format imposes on these
summaries."

On January 8, 1968, Lance Corporal Fisher was with an ambush team
in Dien Ban District, south of Da Nang City, Quang Nam Province. 
He left his ambush site with a one-legged girl and was never seen
again.  A search and rescue party attempting to locate him was
fired upon.  A later search failed to locate any trace of him but
an older local resident did say that an American had been taken
prisoner.  The non-commissioned officer in charge of the ambush was
recommended for court-martial for permitting a member of the team
to leave the site.  In 1970, a former Vietnam People's Army
Lieutenant Colonel provided information, possibly hearsay, that
Corporal Fisher had been killed and buried.

Corporal Fisher was initially declared missing.  In December 1978,
he was declared dead/body not recovered.  Returning U.S. POWs were
unable to provide any information about him being alive in the
Vietnamese prison system.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER #225 Relating to a Proclamation that the Flag of the United States and the Flag of the State of Wisconsin be Flown at Half-Staff as a Mark of Respect for Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer of the United States Marine Corps Who Lost His Life in the Vietnam War
WHEREAS, on January 8, 1968, Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer, a member of an ambush team operating in South Vietnam, disappeared and was declared Missing in Action and on December 8, 1978 was presumed Killed in Action; and         WHEREAS, Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer’s remains were recovered and identified; and         WHEREAS, Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer provided faithful and honorable service to the people of the State of Wisconsin and the people of the United States; and         WHEREAS, the people of Wisconsin mourn the death of Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer; and         WHEREAS, Gunnery Sergeant Richard W. Fischer will be laid to rest on Monday, November 19, 2007;         NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM DOYLE, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by Federal and State law, do hereby order that the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin shall be flown at half-staff at all buildings, grounds and military installations of the State of Wisconsin equipped with such flags beginning at sunrise on November 19, 2007, and ending at sunset on that date.         IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed.  Done at the Capitol in the City of Madison this fifteenth day of November, in the year two thousand and seven. JIM DOYLE Governor By the Governor: ________________________ DOUGLAS LA FOLLETTE Secretary of State