The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Michael Shea McLhern.

The Wall › Panel 4W › Indiana › Michael Shea McLhern

MICHAEL SHEA MCLHERN

Private First Class · U.S. Army

August 4, 1952 – March 31, 1971

Service record

Michael Shea McLhern, of Gary, Indiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 31, 1971, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 4W, Line 97 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 4W · Line 97

Position of Panel 4W 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
August 4, 1952
Home of record
Gary, Indiana (Lake County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 31, 1971
Age
18
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

14 names on the Wall carry the date March 31, 1971; three of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In March 1971, 429 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 14 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 4W, Line 97

Same unit, same day

From Gary

All 94 names from Gary →

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.