The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972.
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972. Photo: 1LT Stacy Stewart, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Oscar Herrgesell.

The Wall › Panel 1W › California › Oscar Herrgesell

OSCAR HERRGESELL

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Army

January 5, 1929 – July 29, 1972

Service record

Oscar Herrgesell, of Bakersfield, California, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. He died on July 29, 1972, in Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam, at age 43. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 59 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 59

Position of Panel 1W 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
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
MACV ADVISORS
Born
January 5, 1929
Home of record
Bakersfield, California (Kern County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 29, 1972
Age
43
Province
Dinh Tuong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

Three names on the Wall carry the date July 29, 1972; he was the only one lost in Định Tường Province that day. In July 1972, 53 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 7 of its members that month.

He died in Định Tường Province while the Easter Offensive was under way. On 30 March 1972, North Vietnam launched its largest offensive since 1968, attacking across the DMZ, toward An Lộc and into the Central Highlands. By then few U.S. ground troops remained; American advisers and air power fought alongside the South Vietnamese.

Also on Panel 1W, Line 59

Same unit, same day

From Bakersfield

All 55 names from Bakersfield →

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.