The Wall › Panel 40E › Illinois › Rhondal Gene Claypool
RHONDAL GENE CLAYPOOL
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 19, 1943 – February 18, 1968
Service recordRhondal Gene Claypool, of Martinsville, Illinois, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 18, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 3 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 3
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)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- September 19, 1943
- Home of record
- Martinsville, Illinois (Clark County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 18, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Quang Nam
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
85 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 140 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Nam 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 3
- DALLAS DEWEY CUMMINGSPetty Officer Second Class · February 18, 1968
- LOUIS WADE CUSSINSLance Corporal · February 18, 1968
- WILLIAM MARINUS DEVOSPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
- GREGORY JAMES EVANSPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
Same unit, same day
- TOMMIE BRANDONPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 1
- DARRELL LEE CABELLPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 2
- JAMES GLENN STANDEFERSergeant · Panel 40E, Line 14
- DANIEL WILLIAMS IIISergeant · Panel 40E, Line 16
From Martinsville
- JAMES LEROY WALLACECorporal · April 23, 1968
- GERALD LEROY THARPPrivate · March 12, 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.