The Wall › Panel 49E › Minnesota › Darrel Bruce Helmke
DARREL BRUCE HELMKE
Private First Class · U.S. Army
February 17, 1950 – April 12, 1968
Service recordDarrel Bruce Helmke, of Cokato, Minnesota, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on April 12, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 49E, Line 32 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 49E · Line 32
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- February 17, 1950
- Home of record
- Cokato, Minnesota (Wright County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 12, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
51 names on the Wall carry the date April 12, 1968; six of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 134 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 49E, Line 32
- JOHN FRANCIS FITZGERALDChief Warrant Officer 2 · April 12, 1968
- ROBERT GEORGE HARRISSpecialist Four · April 12, 1968
- JACK WAYNE HESSSpecialist Four · April 12, 1968
- ALAN JOSEPH HETTICHCorporal · April 12, 1968
Same unit, same day
- NOLAN REED RAYSpecialist Four · Panel 49E, Line 36
From Cokato
- JOHN ROBERT SCHUMANNMajor · June 16, 1965
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.