The Wall › Panel 2W › Iowa › Dallas Lee Nihsen
DALLAS LEE NIHSEN
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
March 16, 1950 – April 15, 1972
Service recordDallas Lee Nihsen, of Charter Oak, Iowa, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on April 15, 1972, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 2W, Line 137 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2W · Line 137
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
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AVN BDE
- Born
- March 16, 1950
- Home of record
- Charter Oak, Iowa (Crawford County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 15, 1972
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
Four names on the Wall carry the date April 15, 1972; he was the only one lost in Kon Tum Province that day. In April 1972, 106 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 17 of its members that month.
He died in Kon Tum Province while the Easter Offensive was under way. On 30 March 1972, North Vietnam launched its largest offensive since 1968, attacking across the DMZ, toward An Lộc and into the Central Highlands. By then few U.S. ground troops remained; American advisers and air power fought alongside the South Vietnamese.
Also on Panel 2W, Line 137
- DAVID HIRAM STAMPERSpecialist Four · April 14, 1972
- ROY EUGENE THOMPSONPrivate First Class · April 14, 1972
- GEORGE WILLIAM MAINARDYSergeant · April 15, 1972
- JON HUBBARD SANDERSTechnical Sergeant · April 15, 1972
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.