Rank: Private First Class
Unit: A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 10-Jun-1949
Hometown: West Olive, Michigan
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Start of tour: 11-Oct-1969
Incident date: 15-Jan-1970
Date of casualty: 16-Feb-1980
Age at death: 30
Cause of death: Hostile, died of wounds. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
At night defensive position (NDP). Engaged hostile force in firefight. Individual was admitted to 24th Evacuation Hospital, Long Binh, on 15 Jan 1970 at 0510 hrs and placed on Very Serious Injury (VSI) on 15 Jan 1970 at 0545 hrs. / Individual was evacuated to 106th General Hospital, Yokohama, Japan, on 27 Jan 1970. / Ronald James Fuit died on 16 Feb 1980 as a result of woulds received in Vietnam on 15 Jan 1970.
Army PFC Ronald James Fuite of West Olive, Mich. was wounded in action January 15, 1970. He suffered “a fragment wound to the head.” Ron returned to the states in 1970. He was quadriplegic and unable to speak. He spent the next 10 years in veterans hospitals, mostly in Battle Creek and Ann Arbor. Ronald, 30, died Feb. 16, 1980. Two years later, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated. His name was added in 1990.
Two Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SSG David Cruz Chavez
PFC Ronald James Fuite
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 273 780
Place of interment: Grand Haven Cemetery, Grand Haven, Michigan, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 14W 038 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)
Ronald James Fuite was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day, November 11, 1991.