The Wall › Panel 42E › Indiana › Robert Wayne Ellis
ROBERT WAYNE ELLIS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
April 14, 1945 – February 29, 1968
Service recordRobert Wayne Ellis, of Syracuse, Indiana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 29, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 4
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 Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AVN BDE
- Born
- April 14, 1945
- Home of record
- Syracuse, Indiana (Kosciusko County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 29, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Hua Nghia
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Burns/Smoke Inhalation
Context · from the records
What was happening
52 names on the Wall carry the date February 29, 1968; he was the only one lost in Hua Nghia Province that day. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 61 of its members that month.
He died in Hua Nghia 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 42E, Line 4
- CARL LESTER DOWNSLance Corporal · February 29, 1968
- FRANCIS MURTAUGH DRISCOLLFirst Lieutenant · February 29, 1968
- JOHN DAVID LOCKW DUFFIELDPrivate First Class · February 29, 1968
- EARL ERWIN JRSpecialist Four · February 29, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JOHN W COOKWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 42E, Line 3
- RONNIE DEAN SCHULTZSpecialist Five · Panel 42E, Line 9
From Syracuse
- JERRY DENVER THOMASSpecialist Four · May 15, 1969
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.