The Wall › Panel 42E › Texas › Robert Earl Wesley
ROBERT EARL WESLEY
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
May 2, 1941 – February 28, 1968
Service recordRobert Earl Wesley, of Borger, Texas, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 28, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · 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
- Staff Sergeant (SSG)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- May 2, 1941
- Home of record
- Borger, Texas (Hutchinson County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 26
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
91 names on the Wall carry the date February 28, 1968; seven of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 168 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 42E, Line 1
- GENE CALVIN REIDSpecialist Four · February 28, 1968
- JOHN ALFRED THOTLANDLance Corporal · February 28, 1968
- JIMMIE LESTER TODDMaster Sergeant · February 28, 1968
- WILLIAM OLIVER TURNERCorporal · February 28, 1968
- WALTER WILBER VAILTechnical Sergeant · February 28, 1968
Same unit, same day
- THOMAS LEON HERDSergeant · Panel 41E, Line 66
From Borger
- WAYNE B PLATTSpecialist Four · February 26, 1968
- WILLIAM ARTHUR JONESSergeant · March 12, 1968
- DAVID ESEQUIEL PADILLALance Corporal · May 18, 1968
- LOYD VAN MCCARTHY JRCaptain · March 16, 1971
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.