Robert Nicholas Vennik was born on January 19, 1946. His home of record is Wyckoff, NJ. Vennik graduated from Ramapo Regional High School.
Robert served in the US Army and was assigned to Troop B, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, 196th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division where he attained the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSGT/E6). He was a heavy equipment operator. Vennik was awarded the Purple Heart.
Vennik was listed as missing in action during an enemy ambush on August 26, 1971. A wife and son survived Vennik.
Vennik’s remains were repatriated on June 27, 2000, and positively identified on February 2, 2001.
The town of Wyckoff named Vennik Court in his memory.
Synopsis (from the POW Network) as to the circumstances behind being listed as MIA:
On August 26, 1971, SSGT Robert N. Vennik was riding atop an armored personnel carrier (APC# B-24), moving to a night defensive position near the village of Cu An, 23 miles southwest of Hoa in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.
Vennik’s unit was ambushed and after his APC was moved into a position to provide fire support for other carriers, his track was hit by a rocket propelled grenade, causing a violent explosion from the fragmentation and white phosphorous grenades, the Claymore mines and the gas tanks of the APC.
Of the six men who were riding on top of the vehicle, five remains were found and identified, however Vennik’s remains were never found. The area was searched for two days in hopes of retrieving his body but to no avail. Witnesses felt that Vennik’s body had been destroyed in the explosion and ensuing 11-hour fire on the APC.
The following is an excerpt from The Record dated Monday, January 29, 1973:
S. Sgt. Robert N. Vennik, 26, was the third Wyckoff man killed in Vietnam. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Vennik, he graduated from Ramapo Regional High School.
After joining the Army in April 1965, Sgt. Vennik served in Alaska and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. He was a heavy equipment operator from November 1969 to February 1970 and received the Purple Heart for a leg wound.
In August 1971, Sgt. Vennik was killed when an armored personnel carrier was struck by a rocket grenade.
Sgt. Vennik was married and the father of a son.
He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sources: POW Network, newspaper clippings, The Record, and NJVVMF.
12/17/2024
