The Wall › Panel 36E › Pennsylvania › David Ralph Wilson
DAVID RALPH WILSON
First Lieutenant · U.S. Army
April 18, 1944 – January 31, 1968
Service recordDavid Ralph Wilson, of Oreland, Pennsylvania, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on January 31, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 36E, Line 43 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36E · Line 43
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
- First Lieutenant (1LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Unit Officer, Non-Tactical (2136)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 LOGISTIC CMD
- Born
- April 18, 1944
- Home of record
- Oreland, Pennsylvania (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 31, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Binh Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
Context · from the records
What was happening
246 names on the Wall carry the date January 31, 1968; seven of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “1 LOGISTIC CMD”, his unit in the record, lost 19 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Định 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 36E, Line 43
- ROBERT JOE WILLIAMSONSergeant · January 31, 1968
- ALLEN LANE WINTERSSpecialist Four · January 31, 1968
- JOSEPH ROBERT WISEMajor · January 31, 1968
- JERRY RUSS WOODALLCaptain · January 31, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT CHARLES BIEGELChief Warrant Officer 3 · Panel 35E, Line 87
- DAVID RICKEY CARSONSpecialist Four · Panel 36E, Line 1
- MANUEL SOTO FLORESSpecialist Four · Panel 36E, Line 8
- WILLIAM JOSEPH STEFFESSpecialist Five · Panel 36E, Line 39
From Oreland
- ROBERT CHARLES BOUCHERCaptain · April 20, 1969
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.