The Wall › Panel 45W › Oregon › Gerald Dever Pochel
GERALD DEVER POCHEL
Petty Officer Third Class · U.S. Navy
May 9, 1948 – September 4, 1968
Service recordGerald Dever Pochel, of Otis, Oregon, served as a Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on September 4, 1968, in An Xugen Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 45W, Line 38 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45W · Line 38
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
- Petty Officer Third Class (PO3)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Radarman (RD)
- Unit (as recorded)
- USNAVFORV
- Born
- May 9, 1948
- Home of record
- Otis, Oregon (Lincoln County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- September 4, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- An Xugen
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
23 names on the Wall carry the date September 4, 1968; he was the only one lost in An Xugen Province that day. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “USNAVFORV”, his unit in the record, lost 4 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 45W, Line 38
- JIMMY LOCKLEARSpecialist Four · September 4, 1968
- RANDELL HOOD LOYSpecialist Four · September 4, 1968
- WILLIAM HARVEY LUCASSpecialist Four · September 4, 1968
- EMIL HAROLD SMEVOLDPrivate First Class · September 4, 1968
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.