The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ralph Burkhalter JR.

The Wall › Panel 26W › Virginia › Ralph Burkhalter JR

RALPH BURKHALTER JR

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

February 6, 1948 – April 21, 1969

Service record

Ralph Burkhalter JR, of Boissevain, Virginia, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on April 21, 1969, in Khanh Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 26W, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 26W · Line 18

Position of Panel 26W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Heavy Vehicle Driver (64B)
Born
February 6, 1948
Home of record
Boissevain, Virginia (Tazewell County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 21, 1969
Age
21
Province
Khanh Hoa
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Vehicle Crash (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

35 names on the Wall carry the date April 21, 1969; he was the only one lost in Khanh Hoa Province that day. In April 1969, 1,023 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 26W, Line 18

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.