The Wall › Panel 24W › Colorado › Richard Eugene Staab
RICHARD EUGENE STAAB
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
June 20, 1949 – May 17, 1969
Service recordRichard Eugene Staab, of La Junta, Colorado, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 17, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 34 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 34
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)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- June 20, 1949
- Home of record
- La Junta, Colorado (Otero County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 17, 1969
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
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 34
- WALTER PALMERSpecialist Four · May 17, 1969
- DENNIS HENRY RHENPetty Officer Third Class · May 17, 1969
- WILLIAM ROBERT SESSIONSSpecialist Four · May 17, 1969
- VIRGIL GRANT STEWARTCaptain · May 17, 1969
Same unit, same day
- EDWARD DEITMANSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 27
- JOHN ALVIE NICHOLASSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 31
- RICHARD EARL MAYSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 32
- JOSEPH MCCANTS JRSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 32
- GILBERT WAYNE PAGESergeant · Panel 24W, Line 33
- WILLIAM ROBERT SESSIONSSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 34
From La Junta
- CHARLES PRICE ROBERTSCaptain · August 12, 1972
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.