The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967.
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967. Photo: PFC Franklin G. Nickerson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert Thomas Nelson.

The Wall › Panel 3W › Alabama › Robert Thomas Nelson

ROBERT THOMAS NELSON

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

May 28, 1951 – August 12, 1971

Service record

Robert Thomas Nelson, of Madison, Alabama, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on August 12, 1971, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 3W, Line 130 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3W · Line 130

Position of Panel 3W 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

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
May 28, 1951
Home of record
Madison, Alabama (Madison County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 12, 1971
Age
20
Province
Quang Nam
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

Ten names on the Wall carry the date August 12, 1971; he was the only one lost in Quảng Nam Province that day. In August 1971, 116 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 6 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 3W, Line 130

From Madison

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.