The Wall › Panel 37E › Illinois › George W Cruthird
GEORGE W CRUTHIRD
Private First Class · U.S. Army
July 26, 1946 – February 6, 1968
Service recordGeorge W Cruthird, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 6, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 53
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)
- 198 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- July 26, 1946
- Home of record
- Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 6, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
147 names on the Wall carry the date February 6, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 198th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 25 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 37E, Line 53
- JAMES EVERETT CRAVEN IIIPrivate First Class · February 6, 1968
- EDWARD WALDREN CRUMMajor · February 6, 1968
- JACK DECESARO JRCorporal · February 6, 1968
- JOHN WILLIAM DOBYPetty Officer First Class · February 6, 1968
Same unit, same day
- KARL WALTER POSTSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 66
From Chicago
- MELVIN LESTER WATERSPrivate · February 10, 1965
- WILLIAM RALPH FUHRMANPetty Officer Third Class · April 23, 1965
- RAYMOND LEON HORNCorporal · May 1, 1965
- ARTHUR C JEPSON JRCaptain · May 16, 1965
- DONALD CLAY DEDMONStaff Sergeant · June 10, 1965
- ROGER PELIKANLance Corporal · July 17, 1965
- HARRY COHENTechnical Sergeant · July 19, 1969
- CURTIS LOCKHARTPrivate First Class · July 30, 1965
- EDWARD KOPECPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- JAMES LEO WHITELance Corporal · August 19, 1965
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.