The Wall › Panel 30E › Kansas › Olis Ray Rigby
OLIS RAY RIGBY
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
August 16, 1948 – November 21, 1967
Service recordOlis Ray Rigby, of Hays, Kansas, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 21, 1967, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 30E, Line 59 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 30E · Line 59
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
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- August 16, 1948
- Home of record
- Hays, Kansas (Ellis County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- November 21, 1967
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date November 21, 1967; ten of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In November 1967, 1,133 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 212 of its members that month.
He died in Kon Tum Province while the Battle of Đắk Tô was under way. Around Đắk Tô in the Central Highlands (3–23 November 1967), the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade fought North Vietnamese regiments for the hills along the border, ending with the assault on Hill 875 on Thanksgiving Day. 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 30E, Line 59
- KEVIN ANTHONY PORTERFirst Lieutenant · November 21, 1967
- JESUS D RIVERA-MELENDEZStaff Sergeant · November 21, 1967
- JOSE ESTABAN RODRIGUEZStaff Sergeant · November 21, 1967
- JESSE E SMITHPrivate First Class · November 21, 1967
Same unit, same day
- WILLIAM CECIL HINKLEPrivate First Class · Panel 30E, Line 56
- GERALD KLOSSEKPrivate First Class · Panel 30E, Line 56
- ROY RONALD LEESpecialist Four · Panel 30E, Line 57
- ROBERT WILLIAM LINDGRENSpecialist Four · Panel 30E, Line 57
- ROLAND WILL MANUELStaff Sergeant · Panel 30E, Line 57
- RAYMOND WIL MICHALOPOULOSSpecialist Four · Panel 30E, Line 57
- JESSE E SMITHPrivate First Class · Panel 30E, Line 59
- DAVID RICHARD REYNOLDSPrivate First Class · Panel 30E, Line 60
From Hays
- NORMAN ALEXIUS LEIKAMMajor · October 23, 1965
- GARY LEE BINDERConstructionman · October 13, 1967
- JAMES EARL HESKETTSpecialist Four · January 7, 1968
- ROBERT LEE URBANPrivate First Class · October 8, 1968
- ARTHUR LEE KLAUSCorporal · February 8, 1969
- CHARLES WALTER MALONEMajor · October 5, 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.