The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967.
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, DASPO, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ronald Sefton Gaffney.

The Wall › Panel 1E › Florida › Ronald Sefton Gaffney

RONALD SEFTON GAFFNEY

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

April 6, 1943 – February 19, 1965

Service record

Ronald Sefton Gaffney, of Groveland, Florida, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 19, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 1E, Line 93 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1E · Line 93

Position of Panel 1E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Combat Engineer (12B)
Unit (as recorded)
SPECIAL FORCES
Born
April 6, 1943
Home of record
Groveland, Florida (Lake County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 19, 1965
Age
21
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

Two names on the Wall carry the date February 19, 1965. In February 1965, 54 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 3 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 1E, Line 93

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.