The Wall › Panel 24W › Pennsylvania › David Garth Finnegan
DAVID GARTH FINNEGAN
Sergeant · U.S. Army
March 17, 1948 – May 18, 1969
Service recordDavid Garth Finnegan, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 18, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 40 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 40
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
- Sergeant (SGT)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- March 17, 1948
- Home of record
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 18, 1969
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
81 names on the Wall carry the date May 18, 1969; 29 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 24W, Line 40
- HENRY FRANKLIN EVANSPrivate First Class · May 18, 1969
- JAMES ROCCO FIUMECorporal · May 18, 1969
- JAMES OLIN FOGLEMANPrivate First Class · May 18, 1969
- ROBERT LEE FREEMANSpecialist Five · May 18, 1969
Same unit, same day
- PAUL GEORGE BELLINOCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 36
- LINCOLN E BUNDYSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 37
- GREGORY DOUGLAS CORNETTSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 38
- RALPH JOEL CRUTTSSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 38
- CHARLES JOSEPH CUDLIKESpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 39
- THOMAS JOSEPH DEMARINISCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 39
- JAMES ALBERT DIMOCK JRFirst Lieutenant · Panel 24W, Line 39
- JAMES ROCCO FIUMECorporal · Panel 24W, Line 40
- PAUL HUNTINGTON GANUNCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 41
- HAROLD C HEDDEN JRSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 42
- LEONARD MARTIN HICKSONSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 42
- RUSSELL LANE JETTSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 43
- WILLIE LEE KIRKLANDSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 44
- BIRDEN JEROME LAWSONCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 44
- THOMAS DELANO LIPSCOMBFirst Lieutenant · Panel 24W, Line 44
- JERRY MICHAEL LOVELLSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 45
- DONALD JOSEPH MALICEKCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 45
- HANS LOTHAR MILLSSpecialist Five · Panel 24W, Line 45
- MIGUEL ORTEGA MORENOSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 45
- BOBBY GENE NEWBYCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 46
- WILLIAM J PETERSONSecond Lieutenant · Panel 24W, Line 47
- JORDY JOSEPH PITRESpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 48
- JOHN CHARLES PAPECaptain · Panel 24W, Line 49
- RUDOLPH ROSSIPrivate First Class · Panel 24W, Line 49
From Pittsburgh
- CLEVELAND WILLIAM GORDONMajor · January 7, 1964
- THEODORE ALAN WINOWITCHPrivate First Class · December 30, 1964
- CHARLES FREDRICK CLYDESDALELieutenant (junior grade) · March 15, 1965
- WILLIAM DONAVAN BENNINGStaff Sergeant · May 11, 1965
- FRANK HUFFORD BLANKSergeant · August 18, 1965
- JOHN L JEMISONPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- FRANK JOSEPH NADANY JRSergeant First Class · October 31, 1965
- RUSSELL EARL HAMMONDSergeant First Class · November 5, 1965
- HARRY FRANCIS JEDRZEJEWSKIPlatoon Sergeant · November 17, 1965
- RONALD JOSEPH LOERLEINSergeant · November 25, 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.