The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Earnest Wesley Caraway.

The Wall › Panel 38E › Texas › Earnest Wesley Caraway

EARNEST WESLEY CARAWAY

Sergeant · U.S. Army

June 26, 1947 – February 10, 1968

Service record

Earnest Wesley Caraway, of New Braunfels, Texas, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 10, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 66 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 38E · Line 66

Position of Panel 38E 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 (SGT)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
June 26, 1947
Home of record
New Braunfels, Texas (Comal County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 10, 1968
Age
20
Province
Gia Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

54 names on the Wall carry the date February 10, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.

He died in Gia Dinh 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 38E, Line 66

Same unit, same day

From New Braunfels

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.