The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Melvin Alvin Wildman.

The Wall › Panel 61E › Arkansas › Melvin Alvin Wildman

MELVIN ALVIN WILDMAN

Private First Class · U.S. Army

March 28, 1946 – May 15, 1968

Service record

Melvin Alvin Wildman, of Rose Bud, Arkansas, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on May 15, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 61E, Line 5 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 61E · Line 5

Position of Panel 61E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
March 28, 1946
Home of record
Rose Bud, Arkansas (White County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 15, 1968
Age
22
Province
Gia Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

75 names on the Wall carry the date May 15, 1968; ten of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 103 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 61E, Line 5

Same unit, same day

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.