While serving as the pilot aboard a B-26 medium bomber, Lieutenant Wentzel was reported as Missing in Action when his plane ditched into the sea after developing engine trouble off Palm Island near Townsville, Australia, enroute from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to Garbutt Field, Australia. Lieutenant Wentzel's name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Taguig City, Philippines.