The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert Franklin Elston.

The Wall › Panel 11W › Indiana › Robert Franklin Elston

ROBERT FRANKLIN ELSTON

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 9, 1948 – April 30, 1970

Service record

Robert Franklin Elston, of Huntington, Indiana, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on April 30, 1970, in Binh Long Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 72 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11W · Line 72

Position of Panel 11W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
October 9, 1948
Home of record
Huntington, Indiana (Huntington County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 30, 1970
Age
21
Province
Binh Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

31 names on the Wall carry the date April 30, 1970; he was the only one lost in Binh Long Province that day. In April 1970, 730 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 78 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 11W, Line 72

Same unit, same day

From Huntington

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.