The Wall › Panel 35E › Alabama › Donald William Richardson
DONALD WILLIAM RICHARDSON
Private First Class · U.S. Army
January 9, 1949 – January 30, 1968
Service recordDonald William Richardson, of Semmes, Alabama, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on January 30, 1968, in Phu Yen Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 69 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 69
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
- Field Artillery Basic (13A)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 INF DIV
- Born
- January 9, 1949
- Home of record
- Semmes, Alabama (Mobile County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 30, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Phu Yen
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
99 names on the Wall carry the date January 30, 1968; 23 of them were lost in Phu Yen Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 37 of its members that month.
He died in Phu Yen 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 35E, Line 69
- ANTHONY EDWIN ELLIOTTSpecialist Four · January 30, 1968
- ARTHUR FLOYD ELLIOTTPrivate · January 30, 1968
- DONALD ALLEN EVANSCaptain · January 30, 1968
- BLAKE WILEY FARRIS JRLance Corporal · January 30, 1968
Same unit, same day
- WALTER JACK SOUTARSpecialist Four · Panel 35E, Line 81
From Semmes
- LONNIE VERNON BYRDPrivate First Class · November 23, 1968
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.