The Wall › Panel 24W › Georgia › Joe Thomas Conkle
JOE THOMAS CONKLE
First Lieutenant · U.S. Army
March 17, 1944 – May 20, 1969
Service recordJoe Thomas Conkle, of Hampton, Georgia, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 20, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 58
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
- First Lieutenant (1LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- March 17, 1944
- Home of record
- Hampton, Georgia (Henry County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 20, 1969
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
30 names on the Wall carry the date May 20, 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 58
- EDWARD ALLEN BROOKSPrivate First Class · May 20, 1969
- ROBERT WALTER BUCKLEYSpecialist Four · May 20, 1969
- LARRY FLOYD DODDSSpecialist Four · May 20, 1969
- DONOVAN RUSSEL FLUHARTYSpecialist Four · May 20, 1969
Same unit, same day
- EDWARD ALLEN BROOKSPrivate First Class · Panel 24W, Line 58
- ANTHONY BONGOSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 59
- WILLIAM LINCOLN MARCYSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 60
From Hampton
- WAYNE LAWRENCE ADKINSPetty Officer First Class · October 19, 1969
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.