The Wall › Panel 40E › Nebraska › Robert Virgil Nowak
ROBERT VIRGIL NOWAK
Sergeant · U.S. Army
August 15, 1947 – February 18, 1968
Service recordRobert Virgil Nowak, of Ogallala, Nebraska, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 18, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 11 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 11
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- August 15, 1947
- Home of record
- Ogallala, Nebraska (Keith County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 18, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
85 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Quảng Trị 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 Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 40E, Line 11
- CARL LOUIS LJUNGPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
- JOHN ALTON NEVELSSpecialist Four · February 18, 1968
- ROBERT LEE PETERSONPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
- LEONARD MORRIS PHIPPSSpecialist Four · February 18, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CHARLIE ARUCE BRATCHERSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 1
- NORMAN DUANE GREENSergeant · Panel 40E, Line 5
- REUBEN JONES JRSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 7
- RONALD LEE MCCOLLUMStaff Sergeant · Panel 40E, Line 10
- JOSEPH PARKHILL TURNBULLCorporal · Panel 40E, Line 15
From Ogallala
- LEONARD ASHBY HULTQUISTStaff Sergeant · March 5, 1966
- WILLIAM JAMES KILDAREPrivate First Class · September 21, 1967
- ROGER DILLON MCQUAYCorporal · February 7, 1968
- ROBERT RAY BOYLEPrivate First Class · February 20, 1968
- ROY JOHN MOHRSenior Master Sergeant · May 28, 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.