The Wall › Panel 17E › California › Kenneth Lester Breshears
KENNETH LESTER BRESHEARS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
March 3, 1939 – March 31, 1967
Service recordKenneth Lester Breshears, of Riverbank, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 31, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 28. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 77 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 17E · Line 77
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 Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- March 3, 1939
- Home of record
- Riverbank, California (Stanislaus County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 31, 1967
- Age
- 28
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
30 names on the Wall carry the date March 31, 1967; 12 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 78 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 77
- WALLACE WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · March 30, 1967
- DANIEL LOUIS ALBERTSSpecialist Four · March 31, 1967
- ROBERT LANOUE BALDWINMajor · March 31, 1967
- ROGER STEVEN BRISKINCorporal · March 31, 1967
Same unit, same day
- JAMES HAROLD BRITTAINStaff Sergeant · Panel 17E, Line 78
- CHARLES C DICKEY JRFirst Lieutenant · Panel 17E, Line 78
- GARY FREDERICK SCHULERSpecialist Four · Panel 17E, Line 81
- THOMAS MICHAEL SULLIVANPrivate First Class · Panel 17E, Line 82
- JOHN ANTHONY TODIPrivate First Class · Panel 17E, Line 82
- JOHN MICHAEL WESTSpecialist Four · Panel 17E, Line 83
From Riverbank
- JIMMY DALE JORDANPrivate First Class · May 17, 1966
- MARIO ALVAREZ CISNEROSPrivate First Class · November 19, 1967
- DONALD LEE CHANEYSergeant First Class · January 17, 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.