The Wall › Panel 37E › Pennsylvania › Richard Edward Harner JR
RICHARD EDWARD HARNER JR
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
July 18, 1947 – February 4, 1968
Service recordRichard Edward Harner JR, of Chester, Pennsylvania, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 22 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 22
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- July 18, 1947
- Home of record
- Chester, Pennsylvania (Delaware County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 4, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
68 names on the Wall carry the date February 4, 1968; eight of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. 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 37E, Line 22
- CHARLES HERBERT GRAHAMCorporal · February 4, 1968
- ROBERT EDWARD HALLCorporal · February 4, 1968
- PAUL TRUVILLE HALLMANPetty Officer First Class · February 4, 1968
- JAMES ROBERT HEDGERCorporal · February 4, 1968
Same unit, same day
- VAL GENE ALLARDPrivate First Class · Panel 37E, Line 17
- ANDREW LEE DAWSONSergeant · Panel 37E, Line 20
- JAMES DZIENCILOWSKISpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 21
- ERNEST LINWOOD JACOBS JRCorporal · Panel 37E, Line 23
- ROY LEE WINERPrivate First Class · Panel 37E, Line 29
From Chester
- EDGAR STOMS DONAGHYStaff Sergeant · May 16, 1965
- WILLIAM BROOKS MITCHELLSpecialist Four · November 15, 1965
- GERALD VICTOR JOHNSONSergeant · August 24, 1965
- CHARLES ROBERT DEAN JRPrivate First Class · May 22, 1966
- JAMES EDWARD SHOWALTERPrivate First Class · August 15, 1966
- HAROLD JUNIOR KOLLERSergeant · September 2, 1966
- BARRY CARLTON PRICEPrivate First Class · May 20, 1967
- CARLTON MATTES OTTEYPrivate First Class · August 23, 1967
- ARNOLD BENSON JRSpecialist Four · September 5, 1967
- JOSEPH FRANCIS CONVERY JRPrivate First Class · February 6, 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.