The Wall › Panel 42E › Illinois › Harold Edward Rekau
HAROLD EDWARD REKAU
Private First Class · U.S. Army
March 6, 1949 – March 3, 1968
Service recordHarold Edward Rekau, of Calumet City, Illinois, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 3, 1968, in Long An Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 56
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
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 9 INF DIV
- Born
- March 6, 1949
- Home of record
- Calumet City, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 3, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Long An
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
65 names on the Wall carry the date March 3, 1968; he was the only one lost in Long An Province that day. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 101 of its members that month.
He died in Long An Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 42E, Line 56
- HARMON WAYNE PERRYSpecialist Five · March 3, 1968
- EDDIE LEE PLEASANTSpecialist Four · March 3, 1968
- M RAYMOND REEVESSpecialist Four · March 3, 1968
- SAMUEL DEWEY RIDER JRSergeant · March 3, 1968
Same unit, same day
- HOWARD HERRELL ASHFORDSergeant · Panel 42E, Line 47
- ALBERT ROYCE DISMUKEFirst Lieutenant · Panel 42E, Line 50
- NORMAN ARCHIE FOSSETTCorporal · Panel 42E, Line 51
- RAY HOUSTON WOODSSpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 59
From Calumet City
- RICK EDWARD KOPKACorporal · February 27, 1966
- RICHARD JAMES SCHUTZSpecialist Four · July 21, 1967
- STANLEY ZALEWSKI JRCorporal · April 10, 1968
- FREDERICK DALE STEPHENSONCorporal · July 22, 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.