The Wall › Panel 38W › California › Richard Thomas Havel
RICHARD THOMAS HAVEL
Sergeant · U.S. Army
March 9, 1949 – November 17, 1968
Service recordRichard Thomas Havel, of Atwater, California, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 17, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 38W, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38W · Line 1
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
- Regular
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- March 9, 1949
- Home of record
- Atwater, California (Merced County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- November 17, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Binh Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
41 names on the Wall carry the date November 17, 1968; five of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 19 of its members that month.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 38W, Line 1
- GEORGE K GALLOWAY JRSergeant · November 17, 1968
- ROBERT EARL GREENEPrivate First Class · November 17, 1968
- ALVAH WORRELL HENSON JRPrivate First Class · November 17, 1968
- WILLIAM CLIFFORD WYMER JRPrivate First Class · November 17, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROY EDWARD MAYSergeant · Panel 38W, Line 3
- GERALD FRANCIS ROCKCorporal · Panel 38W, Line 5
- GEORGE CLAYTON ROWLAND JRFirst Sergeant · Panel 38W, Line 5
From Atwater
- CHARLES A RICHARDSONWarrant Officer 1 · June 5, 1970
- STEVEN THOMAS GRIGGSPrivate First Class · August 5, 1970
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.