Ralph Robert Wensinger

West Point, 1959

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by John Gurr on February 13, 2002:

This obituary was written by John Gurr, classmate of Ralph Wensinger, and was first published in the May 1993 Assembly. RALPH ROBERT WENSINGER NO. 22461 CLASS OF 1959 Killed in action on 21 October 1968 in Long An Province, Republic of Vietnam, aged 32 years. Interment: West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York RALPH ROBERT WENSINGER was born on 28 October 1935 in Ashland, Ohio. He was the second of three children born to Marian Elizabeth Hamadey and John Francis Wensinger, a civil engineer. The family moved to San Mateo, California, in 1945. Ralph distinguished himself early as a football player, initially in the Pop Warner Leagues of San Mateo and later as a high school quarterback. He was cited almost weekly in the local papers from his sophomore year on with accolades such as "Northern California All-Star Quarterback" and "Athlete of the Week." Ralph left home before completing high school, however, to enlist in the Army. He was selected as "Trainee of the Week" in basic training and subsequently assigned to the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. As a 17-year old, he quarterbacked the 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment's team to the corps championship in rugged, inter-regimental competition. An outstanding soldier, he was appointed to the USMA Preparatory School in 1953 and entered West Point in July 1954 as a member of the Class of 1958. Though turned back to the Class of 1959 as a yearling, he subsequently made the Dean's List several times and at one point ranked number one in the class in Military Art. Ralph's most notable accomplishments as a cadet, however, came as he quarterbacked the newly formed 150-pound football team to consecutive undefeated seasons in its first two years. The memorable highlight came in 1957 during the first Army-Navy 150-pound game as Ralph bootlegged around a stubborn Navy goal-line defense in the final minute of play to score the game's only touchdown, leading to a 7-0 victory before a crowd of 13,000 at Annapolis that included President Eisenhower. A photograph treasured my Ralph's mother shows President Eisenhower standing and roaring his approval as Ralph crossed the goal line and the Naval Academy Super remained glumly seated beside his euphoric Commander-in-Chief. Upon graduation, Ralph entered the Air Force and earned his wings in 1960 at Webb Air Force Base, Texas. From 1961-1966, he flew B-52's with the 764th Bomber Squadron at Amarillo, Texas, attaining membership in the "B-52 2000 Hour Club." He attended the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, from 1966-1968, graduating third in his class of 26 and earning a Master's of Science in Aeronautical Engineering. He was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi honor engineering fraternity and planned eventually to teach at the Air Force Academy. In June 1968, Ralph was assigned to the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron in Vietnam, where he volunteered for the most hazardous of all flying assignments, low-level reconnaissance in an 0-2A light observation aircraft, locating and marking targets for artillery and air strikes. He was killed four months later in a heroic action that won him the posthumous award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation reads in part: "Captain Wensinger directed aerial and ground operations against a hostile base camp sighted by him during darkness and under adverse weather conditions. Disregarding the fire directed at his aircraft, he repeatedly exposed himself in order to mark the hostile position. The outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty displayed by Captain Wensinger reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force." Other reports indicated that Ralph's actions saved many lives through the elimination of enemy rocket emplacements positioned to fire on a nearby American base camp. Those of us who knew Ralph see in the DFC citation a final display of those character traits which made him a leader and a winner on the gridiron; he went in low and aggressively, ignored his vulnerability, during darkness and under monsoon conditions, to do the job. We had seen it before. Ralph is survived by his mother, Mrs. Marian E. Wensinger of Santa Rosa, California; by his sister, Mrs. Rosalyn W. Sands of Fairfax, Virginia; by his three daughters (Mrs. Elaine Roby of Gainesville, Florida; Mrs. Cynthia Barrientos of Altamonte Springs, Florida; and Mrs. Kathleen Lofreddo of Newport News, Virginia) and four grandchildren. It is not adequate to say simply that Ralph's untimely death ended a promising career. He was a devoted father, a loving son and a gentleman in the traditional sense decent, considerate and thoughtful of others. His life was regrettably short, but during that brief span of time he accomplished so much, so well, that he left an everlasting impression in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. He was buried at West Point with full military honors. The echoes of the salute volleys have long ago faded from the mountains that surround West Point, and a quietness reigns at the gravesite. Yet we remember and will tell our children about him. John W. Gurr, '59

admin