The Wall › Panel 44E › Montana › Robert William Cawley
ROBERT WILLIAM CAWLEY
Seaman · U.S. Navy
June 29, 1947 – March 14, 1968
Service recordRobert William Cawley, of Butte, Montana, served as a Seaman in the U.S. Navy. He died on March 14, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 44
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. Navy
- Rank
- Seaman (SN)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Seaman (SN)
- Unit (as recorded)
- MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11
- Born
- June 29, 1947
- Home of record
- Butte, Montana (Silver Bow County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 14, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
63 names on the Wall carry the date March 14, 1968; 17 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11”, his unit in the record, lost 7 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 44E, Line 44
- LUCIUS ANDERSON JRSergeant · March 14, 1968
- JAMES RICHARD BIERNACKISergeant · March 14, 1968
- HENRY J CHESTER JRPrivate First Class · March 14, 1968
Same unit, same day
- EDWARD JOSEPH HAGLPetty Officer First Class · Panel 44E, Line 47
- FRANKIE RAY JOHNSONPetty Officer Third Class · Panel 44E, Line 47
- ERNEST W WIGLESWORTH JRPetty Officer Third Class · Panel 44E, Line 49
- EUGENE NELSONFireman · Panel 44E, Line 51
- JOSEPH SALVATORE PERYSIANSeaman · Panel 44E, Line 52
From Butte
- JOSEPH E PARKER JRMajor · June 30, 1965
- DANIEL JOHN JANHUNENPrivate First Class · September 2, 1966
- RAYMOND DALE HOERNERSpecialist Four · January 10, 1967
- WESTON HENRY REECECorporal · January 13, 1967
- RONALD GREGORY BABICHCaptain · June 2, 1967
- DENNIS WAYNE SONSTENGPrivate First Class · January 31, 1968
- FLORIAN J ZAHNStaff Sergeant · May 21, 1968
- MARVIN KENT ROBERTSONPrivate First Class · June 25, 1968
- GREGORY PHILLIP HELSLEYPetty Officer Second Class · July 23, 1968
- RAYMOND GEORGE KRISKOVICHSpecialist Four · August 10, 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.