The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of David Charles Williams.

The Wall › Panel 39E › California › David Charles Williams

DAVID CHARLES WILLIAMS

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

February 16, 1946 – February 12, 1968

Service record

David Charles Williams, of San Francisco, California, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 12, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 15 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 39E · Line 15

Position of Panel 39E 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
Armor Crewman (11E)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
February 16, 1946
Home of record
San Francisco, California (San Francisco County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 12, 1968
Age
21
Province
Gia Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

73 names on the Wall carry the date February 12, 1968; six of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.

He died in Gia 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 15

Same unit, same day

From San Francisco

All 164 names from San Francisco →

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.