The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Roger Dale Shafer.

The Wall › Panel 51W › Michigan › Roger Dale Shafer

ROGER DALE SHAFER

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

February 3, 1947 – July 22, 1968

Service record

Roger Dale Shafer, of Baroda, Michigan, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on July 22, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 51W, Line 36 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 51W · Line 36

Position of Panel 51W 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Heavy Construction Equipment Operator (62E)
Unit (as recorded)
137 CO 19 ENG BN USARV
Born
February 3, 1947
Home of record
Baroda, Michigan (Berrien County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 22, 1968
Age
21
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

43 names on the Wall carry the date July 22, 1968; 13 of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In July 1968, 993 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “137 CO 19 ENG BN USARV”, his unit in the record, lost 12 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 51W, Line 36

Same unit, same day

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.