The Wall › Panel 24W › Illinois › Howard Mathis Peterson
HOWARD MATHIS PETERSON
Sergeant · U.S. Army
May 6, 1948 – May 19, 1969
Service recordHoward Mathis Peterson, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 19, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · 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
- Sergeant (SGT)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- May 6, 1948
- Home of record
- Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 19, 1969
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
28 names on the Wall carry the date May 19, 1969; four of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. 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 24W, Line 56
- RANDALL ALAN MEESpecialist Four · May 19, 1969
- DONALD FLOYD SCORSONESergeant · May 19, 1969
- ROBERT ALAN THOMPSONPetty Officer Third Class · May 19, 1969
- DONALD ARTHUR TURSOCorporal · May 19, 1969
Same unit, same day
- TIMOTHY KIM LECLAIRFirst Lieutenant · Panel 24W, Line 55
- RANDALL ALAN MEESpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 56
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.