The Wall › Panel 17E › Alabama › Gerald W Wilson
GERALD W WILSON
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
February 16, 1946 – April 7, 1967
Service recordGerald W Wilson, of Empire, Alabama, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on April 7, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 118 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 17E · Line 118
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
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 196 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- February 16, 1946
- Home of record
- Empire, Alabama (Walker County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 7, 1967
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
26 names on the Wall carry the date April 7, 1967; eight of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In April 1967, 887 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 196th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 17E, Line 118
- ROBERT ANDREW ONEILSpecialist Five · April 7, 1967
- CIPRIANO J PANTOJA JRPrivate First Class · April 7, 1967
- ROBERT VERNER PEARSONSpecialist Four · April 7, 1967
- JOHN RAY RHODEHAMEL IIPrivate First Class · April 7, 1967
Same unit, same day
- DAVID EUGENE GORRELLPrivate First Class · Panel 17E, Line 116
- ROBERT ANDREW ONEILSpecialist Five · Panel 17E, Line 118
From Empire
- FREDERICK LARRY ALLUMSCorporal · March 7, 1968
- LARRY JOE PURCELLSergeant · August 12, 1968
- JAMES DANIEL RAYNORPrivate First Class · August 29, 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.