The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Otis Edward Isbell.

The Wall › Panel 61E › Arkansas › Otis Edward Isbell

OTIS EDWARD ISBELL

Corporal · U.S. Army

October 21, 1948 – May 16, 1968

Service record

Otis Edward Isbell, of West Memphis, Arkansas, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on May 16, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 61E, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 61E · Line 12

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
Corporal (CPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
October 21, 1948
Home of record
West Memphis, Arkansas (Crittenden County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 16, 1968
Age
19
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

80 names on the Wall carry the date May 16, 1968; nine of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 236 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 61E, Line 12

Same unit, same day

From West Memphis

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.