The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Gary Ralph Schwellenbach.

The Wall › Panel 32E › California › Gary Ralph Schwellenbach

GARY RALPH SCHWELLENBACH

Corporal · U.S. Army

June 15, 1948 – December 27, 1967

Service record

Gary Ralph Schwellenbach, of Chico, California, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on December 27, 1967, in Phu Yen Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 32E, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 32E · Line 81

Position of Panel 32E 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
Corporal (CPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
June 15, 1948
Home of record
Chico, California (Butte County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 27, 1967
Age
19
Province
Phu Yen
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

88 names on the Wall carry the date December 27, 1967; 12 of them were lost in Phu Yen Province. In December 1967, 937 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 32E, Line 81

Same unit, same day

From Chico

All 13 names from Chico →

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.