The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
The 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, enters Snuol, Cambodia, 4 May 1970.
The 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, enters Snuol, Cambodia, 4 May 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of David Austin Butcher.

The Wall › Panel 11W › Ohio › David Austin Butcher

DAVID AUSTIN BUTCHER

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

June 20, 1950 – May 8, 1970

Service record

David Austin Butcher, of Marion, Ohio, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 8, 1970, in Cambodia, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 129 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11W · Line 129

Position of Panel 11W 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 Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
Unit (as recorded)
9 INF DIV
Born
June 20, 1950
Home of record
Marion, Ohio (Marion County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 8, 1970
Age
19
Country
Cambodia
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

35 names on the Wall carry the date May 8, 1970. In May 1970, 917 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 25 of its members that month.

He died in Cambodia while the Cambodian incursion was under way. From 29 April to 30 June 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces crossed into Cambodia to attack North Vietnamese base areas and supply caches; the announcement set off campus protests, including at Kent State.

Also on Panel 11W, Line 129

Same unit, same day

From Marion

All 24 names from Marion →

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.