The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Earl Eric Shark.

The Wall › Panel 44W › California › Earl Eric Shark

EARL ERIC SHARK

Sergeant First Class · U.S. Army

May 23, 1946 – September 12, 1968

Service record

Earl Eric Shark, of Pomona, California, served as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army. He was lost on September 12, 1968, in Binh Long Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 44W, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 44W · Line 41

Position of Panel 44W 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
Sergeant First Class (SFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
May 23, 1946
Home of record
Pomona, California (Los Angeles County)

Casualty

Date of loss
September 12, 1968
Province
Binh Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Unknown
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

50 names on the Wall carry the date September 12, 1968; 19 of them were lost in Binh Long Province. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 44W, Line 41

Same unit, same day

From Pomona

All 23 names from Pomona →

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.