The Wall › Panel 44E › Illinois › Robert Gene Pinkston
ROBERT GENE PINKSTON
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
January 1, 1933 – March 14, 1968
Service recordRobert Gene Pinkston, of Bloomington, Illinois, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 14, 1968, in Darlac Province, South Vietnam, at age 35. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 52 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 52
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
- Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AVN BDE
- Born
- January 1, 1933
- Home of record
- Bloomington, Illinois (Mclean County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 14, 1968
- Age
- 35
- Province
- Darlac
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
63 names on the Wall carry the date March 14, 1968; two of them were lost in Darlac Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 29 of its members that month.
He died in Darlac Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 44E, Line 52
- EDWARD LEON PATTERSONPrivate First Class · March 14, 1968
- JOSEPH SALVATORE PERYSIANSeaman · March 14, 1968
- WILLIAM FRANCIS PIASKOWSKISpecialist Four · March 14, 1968
- THOMAS ROBERT POPEPrivate First Class · March 14, 1968
Same unit, same day
- DUANE RINEHARDT PASSIGSpecialist Four · Panel 44E, Line 51
From Bloomington
- GEORGE ELMER BURCHETTStaff Sergeant · September 18, 1965
- WILLIAM REINHART BUFFCorporal · August 30, 1966
- THOMAS LEO HOENIGESSergeant · June 8, 1967
- WILLIAM WALTER LITTLE IIICorporal · November 7, 1967
- DONALD EUGENE MONKMANPrivate First Class · January 7, 1968
- TIMOTHY LEE WHITESpecialist Four · February 2, 1968
- OMAR DAVID JONESFirst Lieutenant · May 12, 1968
- GARY CECIL BAIZEPrivate First Class · August 19, 1968
- THOMAS CARLYLE JACOBSWarrant Officer 1 · September 13, 1968
- BERNARD JAMES COOKSpecialist Four · September 17, 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.