The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ronald Wayne Neal.

The Wall › Panel 45W › Indiana › Ronald Wayne Neal

RONALD WAYNE NEAL

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

March 1, 1947 – September 3, 1968

Service record

Ronald Wayne Neal, of Rockport, Indiana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on September 3, 1968, in Long An Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 45W, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 45W · Line 33

Position of Panel 45W 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

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
9 INF DIV
Born
March 1, 1947
Home of record
Rockport, Indiana (Spencer County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 3, 1968
Age
21
Province
Long An
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

25 names on the Wall carry the date September 3, 1968; nine of them were lost in Long An Province. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 79 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 45W, Line 33

Same unit, same day

From Rockport

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.