South Dakota Vietnam War MIA Col. Walter Renelt Identified, to Be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

Northeast Radio SD News – Roberts County, SD - The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced that the remains of U.S. Air Force Col. Walter Alfred Renelt, a South Dakota native missing since the Vietnam War, have been positively identified. The agency made the official identification on June 23, 2025, fulfilling a decades‑long effort to bring answers to Renelt’s family and community.

Renelt, who entered the Air Force from South Dakota, served with the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. On November 20, 1969, he was acting as an instructor pilot aboard an O‑2A Skymaster aircraft, call sign “Lopez 01.” The aircraft was conducting a visual reconnaissance mission over Laos when it radioed that it had been hit by enemy fire and lost an engine. Moments later, a forward air controller witnessed the aircraft crash and burn, with no signs of survivors.

Rescue teams attempted to reach the crash site the following day, but heavy enemy machine‑gun fire and deteriorating weather made insertion impossible. Electronic searches continued until November 28, but no signals were detected. The Air Force issued a presumptive finding of death for Renelt in July 1973.

Efforts to locate Renelt and his crewmember resumed in the mid‑1990s as part of a comprehensive review of all Southeast Asia POW/MIA cases. Between 1995 and 2022, U.S. and Laotian teams conducted multiple joint field missions at the suspected crash site. A breakthrough came during a 2022 recovery operation, when investigators found a rank insignia belonging specifically to Renelt. In May 2025, teams recovered possible human remains and material evidence.

DPAA scientists analyzed the remains along with historical and circumstantial evidence, ultimately confirming they belonged to Col. Renelt.

He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and his name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., alongside his fallen comrades.

Renelt’s identification marks another step in DPAA’s mission to fulfill the nation’s promise to account for every American service member missing in action.

Renelt will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Aug. 17, 2026.

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