The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Donald Joseph Knebel.

The Wall › Panel 5W › Indiana › Donald Joseph Knebel

DONALD JOSEPH KNEBEL

Private First Class · U.S. Army

July 5, 1951 – December 25, 1970

Service record

Donald Joseph Knebel, of Jasper, Indiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on December 25, 1970, in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 5W, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5W · Line 8

Position of Panel 5W 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Heavy Vehicle Driver (64B)
Unit (as recorded)
US ARMY REP OF VIETNAM
Born
July 5, 1951
Home of record
Jasper, Indiana (Dubois County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 25, 1970
Age
19
Province
Phuoc Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

Three names on the Wall carry the date December 25, 1970; he was the only one lost in Phuoc Long Province that day. In December 1970, 271 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “US ARMY REP OF VIETNAM”, his unit in the record, lost 29 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 5W, Line 8

From Jasper

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.