The Wall › Panel 44E › South Carolina › Eugene Nelson
EUGENE NELSON
Fireman · U.S. Navy
June 1, 1947 – March 14, 1968
Service recordEugene Nelson, of Lugoff, South Carolina, served as a Fireman in the U.S. Navy. He died on March 14, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 51
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. Navy
- Rank
- Fireman (FN)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Fireman (FN)
- Unit (as recorded)
- MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11
- Born
- June 1, 1947
- Home of record
- Lugoff, South Carolina (Kershaw County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 14, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
Context · from the records
What was happening
63 names on the Wall carry the date March 14, 1968; 17 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11”, his unit in the record, lost 7 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 44E, Line 51
- RONALD GENE MCCRAWSergeant · March 14, 1968
- CHET EUGENE MCPHETERSSpecialist Four · March 14, 1968
- NICHOLAS PARASILITILance Corporal · March 14, 1968
- DUANE RINEHARDT PASSIGSpecialist Four · March 14, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT WILLIAM CAWLEYSeaman · Panel 44E, Line 44
- EDWARD JOSEPH HAGLPetty Officer First Class · Panel 44E, Line 47
- FRANKIE RAY JOHNSONPetty Officer Third Class · Panel 44E, Line 47
- ERNEST W WIGLESWORTH JRPetty Officer Third Class · Panel 44E, Line 49
- JOSEPH SALVATORE PERYSIANSeaman · Panel 44E, Line 52
From Lugoff
- TERRY SHAVON HEARONPrivate First Class · May 12, 1967
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.