The Wall › Panel 41E › Oklahoma › Ernest Eugene Beam
ERNEST EUGENE BEAM
Private First Class · U.S. Army
March 3, 1946 – February 27, 1968
Service recordErnest Eugene Beam, of Guthrie, Oklahoma, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 27, 1968, in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 47 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 47
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 11 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- March 3, 1946
- Home of record
- Guthrie, Oklahoma (Logan County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 27, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Ngai
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
56 names on the Wall carry the date February 27, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Ngãi Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 11th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 25 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Ngãi 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 41E, Line 47
- KENNETH EDWARD ALESHIRESpecialist Four · February 27, 1968
- RAMIRO ALVARADOSpecialist Four · February 27, 1968
- KENNETH SOARES ANDRADEPlatoon Sergeant · February 27, 1968
- RICHARD REED BALLANTINEPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JOHN EDWARD DILLARDSergeant · Panel 41E, Line 49
From Guthrie
- QUINNEN T CHANDLER JRCorporal · October 1, 1967
- FREDDIE LEON LOWERYPrivate First Class · September 18, 1968
- LARRY RAY SHORTSpecialist Four · February 23, 1969
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.