 of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund |
Remember...Ronald Keith Pennington
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Ronald Keith Pennington was born September 27, 1946, at Hambleton, Tucker County, West Virginia to parents John Finley Pennington and Maggie May Bennett Pennington. He joined a large family that included older siblings Terrence Finley Pennington, Luretta Jean Pennington, Dorris M. Pennington Knibb, Eugene Kenton Pennington, and Virginia F. Pennington. In addition, Ronald had two younger brothers, Gary R. Pennington and Roger Pennington. Another older brother, Bernard Wayne Pennington, died in infancy. Luretta also preceded Ronald in death, passing away in Morgantown, West Virginia, at the age of 15. (Family information from the 1950 Federal Census, Knibb Family Tree on Ancestry.com, and a death notice in the Parsons Advocate: "Ronald Keith Pennington Is Viet Nam Casualty," 7 May 1967.)
Ronald graduated from Parsons High School in 1965 and then worked for the Trailmobile Company in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps on January 6, 1966. For young men of this era, for whom being drafted loomed large, enlistment in a branch of the service other than the U.S. Army was often a preferred choice. Lance Corporal Pennington became a member of Headquarters and Service Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, 9th Amphibious Brigade. On April 27, 1967, twenty-year-old LCpl. Pennington was a passenger in a Sikorsky Utility Helicopter (UH-34D) when it crashed int the sea offshore South Vietnam. His remains were not recovered.
Posting in the "Remembrances" area of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces, W. Killian writes:
Per BLT Command Chronology for April 1967, five men from the BLT were killed 'due to loss of helicopter in transferring personnel between ships'. The helo was UH-34D BuNo 148071 assigned as the helo unit for BLT 13. One crewman and five passengers were killed on 27 Apr 1967 when the UH-34 lost power immediately after lift-off, went into the water, and sank. All five passengers were combat engineers. The transfer of personnel was associated with preparations for landings under OPERATION BEAVER CAGE. Delta Company, which in common with the other 13 line companies had a combat engineer detachment from 2nd Plt, A Co, 3rd Engineers, landed via beach assault on 28 Apr 1967, the day after the helo incident. . . . Since 1st Bn, 3rd Marines did not have an organic combat engineer element, these five men were probably part of the combat engineer det attached to BLT 13 Command Chronology. Crew members were LCP Richard H. Dallas (BNR) and SGT Reinaldo A. Castro (BNR). Passengers included LCP James A. Benton (BNR), LCP Blenn C. Dyer, PFC Samuel W. Osborne Jr. (BNR), and LCP Ronald K. Pennington (BNR). ("Accident Summary of U.S. Marine Corps Helicopter UH-34D Tail Number 148071," accessed 16 May 2025, https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/40118/RONALD-K-PENNINGTON/.)
| LCpl. Ronald Keith Pennington was eligible to receive the following commendations and awards: the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation, and the Vietnam Gallantry Cross. He is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., his name is inscribed at Panel 18e, Line 104. The Pennington family also honored him with a cenotaph at Rose Hill Cemetery in Thomas, Tucker County. His father succeeded him in death just five months later, and, ultimately, LCpl. Pennington's parents and several siblings would be buried in the same cemetery. While the possibility of retrieving his remains seems unlikely, the placement of a cenotaph enables the family to maintain hope that eventually they will receive such closure.
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 Honolulu Memorial, National Cemetery of the Pacific. Courtesy of American Battle Monuments Commission |
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
May 2025
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
