The Wall › Panel 44E › Wisconsin › Rodney John Lawson
RODNEY JOHN LAWSON
First Sergeant · U.S. Army
January 12, 1932 – March 12, 1968
Service recordRodney John Lawson, of Augusta, Wisconsin, served as a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 12, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 36. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 28 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 28
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
- First Sergeant (1SG)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantry Senior Sergeant (11G)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- January 12, 1932
- Home of record
- Augusta, Wisconsin (Eau Claire County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 12, 1968
- Age
- 36
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date March 12, 1968; 21 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 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 104 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 28
- PAUL TEJEDA ARAMBULAPrivate First Class · March 12, 1968
- JAMES RILEY LEDBETTERHospitalman · March 12, 1968
- WILLIE B LEEPrivate First Class · March 12, 1968
- JOHN LEE MATTOCKCorporal · March 12, 1968
Same unit, same day
- RICHARD PETER BRUCEFirst Lieutenant · Panel 44E, Line 24
- JOSEPH M KNOBLOCK JRSpecialist Four · Panel 44E, Line 27
- GARY WILLIAM PERKINSCaptain · Panel 44E, Line 30
From Augusta
- DANIEL LEE WESTLIEPetty Officer Third Class · January 10, 1969
- DALE ARTHUR ERDMANSergeant · April 7, 1970
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.