The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Galen Dean Grethen.

The Wall › Panel 6E › Iowa › Galen Dean Grethen

GALEN DEAN GRETHEN

Private First Class · U.S. Army

February 17, 1943 – April 16, 1966

Service record

Galen Dean Grethen, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on April 16, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 6E, Line 117 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 6E · Line 117

Position of Panel 6E 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Equipment Repairer (91A)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
February 17, 1943
Home of record
Emmetsburg, Iowa (Palo Alto County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 16, 1966
Age
23
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

19 names on the Wall carry the date April 16, 1966. In April 1966, 406 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 16 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 6E, Line 117

Same unit, same day

From Emmetsburg

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.