The Wall › Panel 39E › Tennessee › Benjamin S Underhill
BENJAMIN S UNDERHILL
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
February 13, 1946 – February 15, 1968
Service recordBenjamin S Underhill, of Burns, Tennessee, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 15, 1968, in Phong Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 55 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 55
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 9 INF DIV
- Born
- February 13, 1946
- Home of record
- Burns, Tennessee (Dickson County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 15, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Phong Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
73 names on the Wall carry the date February 15, 1968; two of them were lost in Phong Dinh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 164 of its members that month.
He died in Phong Dinh Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 39E, Line 55
- REX FRANKLIN TUTORSpecialist Four · February 15, 1968
- DONALD WILBANKS VAUGHNSergeant · February 15, 1968
- RICHARD PAUL VELLANCESergeant · February 15, 1968
- KARL MERRITT WALDRON JRLieutenant Colonel · February 15, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LUNAS JONAS DANIELSSpecialist Four · Panel 39E, Line 44
- STEVAN ROY SARGENTSpecialist Four · Panel 39E, Line 53
From Burns
- WILLIAM LUNN MARLIN JRSpecialist Four · January 24, 1968
- DENNIS ODELL HARGROVESpecialist Four · September 24, 1987
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.