The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Melvin Dewayne Sodowsky.

The Wall › Panel 31E › Oklahoma › Melvin Dewayne Sodowsky

MELVIN DEWAYNE SODOWSKY

Second Lieutenant · U.S. Army

April 20, 1946 – December 10, 1967

Service record

Melvin Dewayne Sodowsky, of Fairview, Oklahoma, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on December 10, 1967, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 31E, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 31E · Line 78

Position of Panel 31E 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
Second Lieutenant (2LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
April 20, 1946
Home of record
Fairview, Oklahoma (Major County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 10, 1967
Age
21
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

46 names on the Wall carry the date December 10, 1967; 14 of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In December 1967, 937 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 96 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 31E, Line 78

Same unit, same day

From Fairview

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.