The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Byron Thomas Calkins.

The Wall › Panel 23W › Colorado › Byron Thomas Calkins

BYRON THOMAS CALKINS

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

March 17, 1946 – May 31, 1969

Service record

Byron Thomas Calkins, of Denver, Colorado, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on May 31, 1969, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 23W, Line 25 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 23W · Line 25

Position of Panel 23W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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 Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
March 17, 1946
Home of record
Denver, Colorado (Denver County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 31, 1969
Age
23
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

53 names on the Wall carry the date May 31, 1969; six of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 76 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 23W, Line 25

Same unit, same day

From Denver

All 183 names from Denver →

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.