The Wall › Panel 42E › Mississippi › Earnest Shelby Ward
EARNEST SHELBY WARD
Private First Class · U.S. Army
August 31, 1947 – March 3, 1968
Service recordEarnest Shelby Ward, of Florence, Mississippi, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 3, 1968, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 58
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
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 INF DIV
- Born
- August 31, 1947
- Home of record
- Florence, Mississippi (Rankin County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 3, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
65 names on the Wall carry the date March 3, 1968; five of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 47 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Dương 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 42E, Line 58
- KENNETH LINDLE OLDHAMPrivate First Class · March 3, 1968
- GEORGE T SWYMERSpecialist Four · March 3, 1968
- DENNIS HUGH THOMPSONSpecialist Four · March 3, 1968
- JOHN WILLARD VANSANTCorporal · March 3, 1968
Same unit, same day
- HOMER LEE AKE JRPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 46
- ABRAHAM LINCO COLON-PEREZStaff Sergeant · Panel 42E, Line 49
- DAVID WALTER KNOUSEPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 54
- GEORGE T SWYMERSpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 58
From Florence
- WILLIE HARPER JRPrivate First Class · July 9, 1966
- RONALD CLIFTON WEEMSSergeant · February 22, 1969
- ALBERT CHARLES BUTLERLieutenant Colonel · March 22, 1969
- GEORGE OLIVER BOATWRIGHTSpecialist Four · February 16, 1970
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.