The Wall › Panel 24W › Mississippi › Richard Earl May
RICHARD EARL MAY
Sergeant · U.S. Army
October 28, 1948 – May 17, 1969
Service recordRichard Earl May, of Collinsville, Mississippi, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 17, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 32 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 32
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
- Sergeant (SGT)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- October 28, 1948
- Home of record
- Collinsville, Mississippi (Lauderdale County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 17, 1969
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date May 17, 1969; seven of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 24W, Line 32
- JAMES DONALD KLUGEPrivate First Class · May 17, 1969
- JOSEPH MCCANTS JRSergeant · May 17, 1969
- LOWELL WAYNE MEYERPetty Officer Second Class · May 17, 1969
- CHARLES MERLIN MOE JRLance Corporal · May 17, 1969
Same unit, same day
- EDWARD DEITMANSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 27
- JOHN ALVIE NICHOLASSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 31
- JOSEPH MCCANTS JRSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 32
- GILBERT WAYNE PAGESergeant · Panel 24W, Line 33
- WILLIAM ROBERT SESSIONSSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 34
- RICHARD EUGENE STAABSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 34
From Collinsville
- JAMES ROY KINGCorporal · December 20, 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.