The Wall › Panel 46W › Alabama › Elbert Austin Phillips
ELBERT AUSTIN PHILLIPS
Technical Sergeant · U.S. Air Force
May 4, 1934 – August 28, 1968
Service recordElbert Austin Phillips, of Huntsville, Alabama, served as a Technical Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on August 28, 1968, in Laos, at age 34. His name is inscribed on Panel 46W, Line 52 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 46W · Line 52
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. Air Force
- Rank
- Technical Sergeant (TSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Unit (as recorded)
- DET 1 56 SP OPS WG
- Born
- May 4, 1934
- Home of record
- Huntsville, Alabama (Madison County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 28, 1968
- Age
- 34
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
45 names on the Wall carry the date August 28, 1968. In August 1968, 1,313 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “DET 1 56 SP OPS WG”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.
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
On the Wall
Also on Panel 46W, Line 52
- JAMES LEAR GLOVER JRPrivate First Class · August 28, 1968
- WILLIAM MCKNIGHT JRSpecialist Four · August 28, 1968
- MARCELINO NIEVES-COLON JRPrivate First Class · August 28, 1968
- WILLIAM LYNN PITTLance Corporal · August 28, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT CHARLES MILLERMajor · Panel 46W, Line 51
From Huntsville
- ANTHONY D SHEFFIELDSergeant · December 9, 1965
- WILLIAM ALFRED BASON IIPrivate First Class · February 4, 1966
- MARION FRANKLIN ACTONPrivate First Class · April 11, 1966
- JAMES ANTHONY KIGERLance Corporal · September 17, 1966
- LAVLE JIMMY HALLLance Corporal · January 27, 1967
- JAMES EARL PERRYPrivate First Class · March 16, 1967
- ROBERT L MATTHEWSSpecialist Four · March 22, 1967
- JAMES EDMOND HUFFSergeant · October 27, 1967
- ROBERT IVAN RICELance Corporal · February 2, 1968
- LARRY GENE CLARKLance Corporal · February 4, 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.