Richard A. Wannemacher, Jr., was appointed as the Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs on June 3, 2003. During this assignment – from January through November 2005 – he served as the Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs.

From January 2002 until June 2003, he was the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. Wannemacher also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs from June 2001 until January 2002.

Prior to his appointment to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Wannemacher served as assistant national legislative director for medical affairs in the Washington, D.C., office of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). He was responsible for promoting legislation to assist disabled veterans and their families, and supporting existing laws covering veterans’ benefits and services.

Mr. Wannemacher joined DAV as a national service officer in 1978, serving in the Buffalo and Albany, N.Y., offices. In June 1993, he was unanimously elected State Commander of the Department of New York’s 75,000 member organization. In 1995, he was transferred to the DAV National Service Office in Washington, D.C., and was appointed associate national legislative director the following year.

Mr. Wannemacher enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1967. While serving in Vietnam with the Navy’s River Division 593, he received multiple shell fragment wounds from an enemy satchel charge explosion. He was medically retired from the Navy in 1969.

Following his military service, Mr. Wannemacher earned an associate degree in business administration from Erie Community College, a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Buffalo State College, and pursued graduate degree studies in business at Canisius College in Buffalo.

November 2005