Captain Ragin was killed in action in Vietnam on August 20, 1964 along with two other Americans and more than 200 South Vietnamese in what the Army called "the 60 minutes of the bloodiest fighting."

He was a graduate of the Citadel and his wife was the daughter of the Commandant there.

According to witnesses, the unit he served with refused to retreat and fought to the end. A US survivor said, "All of them were professionals. They were made of the stuff that makes men heroes."

The Old Guard officer in charge of his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery was his closest friend who had been rotated home from Vietnam a short time earlier. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army Commendation Medal, the Purple Heart and an Oak Leaf Cluster.

He is buried in Section 35 at Arlington (adjacent to the Memorial Amphitheater) and next to him is buried the young daughter that he never met, Lisa Ann Ragin, who was born on October 15, 1963 and who died on October 1, 1964.

Another casualty from that battle, Byron Clark Stone, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

RAGIN, LISA ANN INF D/O WILLIAM D
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/15/1963
DATE OF DEATH: 10/01/1964
DATE OF INTERMENT: 10/05/1964
BURIED AT: SECTION 35  SITE 1825
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
 DAUGHTER OF WD RAGIN

RAGIN, WILLIAM D
1ST LT USA
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
DATE OF BIRTH: 10/17/1939
DATE OF DEATH: 08/20/1964
DATE OF INTERMENT: 09/04/1964
BURIED AT: SECTION 35  SITE 1825
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Photos (c) Michael Robert Patterson, September 1999

Photographs By M. R. Patterson, October 2002

 Purple Heart 
Medal (2)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vietnam Campaign 
Medal