The Wall › Panel 35E › Tennessee › Echol W Coalston JR
ECHOL W COALSTON JR
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
February 25, 1940 – January 21, 1968
Service recordEchol W Coalston JR, of Memphis, Tennessee, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He was lost on January 21, 1968, in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 3 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 3
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
- Staff Sergeant (SSG)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Materiel Control And Accounting Specialist (76P)
- Unit (as recorded)
- US ARMY REP OF VIETNAM
- Born
- February 25, 1940
- Home of record
- Memphis, Tennessee (Shelby County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 21, 1968
- Province
- Phuoc Tuy
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Presumed Dead
- Circumstance
- Drowning
- First reported
- Missing
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
42 names on the Wall carry the date January 21, 1968; he was the only one lost in Phuoc Tuy Province that day. In January 1968, 1,546 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 7 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.
Read the history
Also on Panel 35E, Line 3
- JOE LESLIE BIFFLE JRSpecialist Four · January 21, 1968
- LAWRENCE EDWARD BISONETTPrivate First Class · January 21, 1968
- THEODORE BROWN JRPrivate First Class · January 21, 1968
- CURTIS BURKE BUGGERPrivate First Class · January 21, 1968
From Memphis
- JESSE ALEXANDER GRAYSergeant First Class · June 12, 1964
- ANDREW DAYTON PARKER JRMajor · June 18, 1965
- JOHN CARLOS HARRISSergeant · July 21, 1965
- WALTER LEWIS SMITHPrivate First Class · August 19, 1965
- CLAUDE TALBERT JRPrivate First Class · October 8, 1965
- WILLIAM CLYDE HARPERSergeant · October 10, 1965
- DANIEL DAVID HARDENSergeant · November 1, 1965
- RANDLE TOM WOODSLance Corporal · November 6, 1965
- KELLY EUGENE WHITAKERPrivate First Class · November 8, 1965
- MELVIN FRANK FORTSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
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.
