The Wall › Panel 48E › Texas › Ronald Gene Phears
RONALD GENE PHEARS
Warrant Officer 1 · U.S. Army
August 10, 1942 – April 4, 1968
Service recordRonald Gene Phears, of Liberty, Texas, served as a Warrant Officer 1 in the U.S. Army. He died on April 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 48E, Line 9 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 48E · Line 9
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
- Warrant Officer 1 (WO1)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Helicopter Pilot, Utility And Light Cargo Single Rotor (062B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- August 10, 1942
- Home of record
- Liberty, Texas (Liberty County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 4, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
73 names on the Wall carry the date April 4, 1968; 25 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 134 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 48E, Line 9
- DAVID ARTHUR PETERSCaptain · April 4, 1968
- JIMMY DEE PICKLESpecialist Five · April 4, 1968
- MIKE RAYMOND RASBERRYSpecialist Four · April 4, 1968
- GENE K ROSSPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
Same unit, same day
- TERRY LEE BAXTERSpecialist Five · Panel 47E, Line 58
- MATTHEW JOSEPH BUONOPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 59
- JOHN LUTHER CHAMBERSSpecialist Four · Panel 48E, Line 1
- JOE MICHAEL MORANWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 48E, Line 7
- DAVID ARTHUR PETERSCaptain · Panel 48E, Line 9
- ROBERT LESLIE RUNKLELieutenant Colonel · Panel 48E, Line 10
- CHARLIE BERNARD THOMASCorporal · Panel 48E, Line 12
- DAVID LEIGH WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · Panel 48E, Line 13
From Liberty
- EMMITT JAMES WILKEY JRGunnery Sergeant · September 8, 1966
- JAMES WESLEY BARTONStaff Sergeant · May 5, 1968
- ROBERT LEE HAMILTON JRCorporal · September 28, 1968
- THOMAS ARTHUR MCADAMSCaptain · February 28, 1969
- LARRY WAYNE MARTINPrivate First Class · June 7, 1969
- NELLO BALDWIN JRCorporal · January 7, 1971
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.