The Wall › Panel 40E › California › Paul Phillip Sonstein
PAUL PHILLIP SONSTEIN
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
March 26, 1946 – February 21, 1968
Service recordPaul Phillip Sonstein, of Pleasant Hill, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 21, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 56
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 199 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- March 26, 1946
- Home of record
- Pleasant Hill, California (Contra Costa County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 21, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Gia Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
32 names on the Wall carry the date February 21, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 199th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 42 of its members that month.
He died in Gia Dinh Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 40E, Line 56
- LENNIE HAROLD SCHARFFPrivate First Class · February 21, 1968
- CLIFFORD CHESTER SIMSStaff Sergeant · February 21, 1968
- WILLIAM GARY SMITHPrivate First Class · February 21, 1968
- PAUL STASKO JRPrivate First Class · February 21, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JACK WILLIAMS BRASINGTONSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 51
From Pleasant Hill
- ROBERT LEE GREERStaff Sergeant · June 7, 1964
- BARNEY EVANS BOYERCorporal · September 9, 1965
- GARY CHARLES ALLENPrivate · March 4, 1966
- JAMES CALVIN RILEYPrivate First Class · May 10, 1967
- STEPHEN DONALD BARTELSCorporal · November 9, 1967
- GREGORY ELLIS COXSpecialist Four · January 4, 1968
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.