The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Eric George Blantin.

The Wall › Panel 16W › Connecticut › Eric George Blantin

ERIC GEORGE BLANTIN

Warrant Officer 1 · U.S. Army

April 13, 1949 – November 20, 1969

Service record

Eric George Blantin, of Newtown, Connecticut, served as a Warrant Officer 1 in the U.S. Army. He died on November 20, 1969, in Vinh Long Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 16W, Line 97 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16W · Line 97

Position of Panel 16W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Warrant Officer 1 (WO1)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Armored Reconnaissance Unit Commander (1204)
Unit (as recorded)
3/5 CAV 9 INF DIV
Born
April 13, 1949
Home of record
Newtown, Connecticut (Fairfield County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 20, 1969
Age
20
Province
Vinh Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

34 names on the Wall carry the date November 20, 1969; two of them were lost in Vinh Long Province. In November 1969, 660 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “3/5 CAV 9 INF DIV”, his unit in the record, lost 3 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 16W, Line 97

Same unit, same day

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.