The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Rutherford J Welsh.

The Wall › Panel 9E › Rutherford J Welsh

RUTHERFORD J WELSH

Warrant Officer 1 · U.S. Army

June 9, 1942 – July 27, 1966

Service record

Rutherford J Welsh served as a Warrant Officer 1 in the U.S. Army. He died on July 27, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 9E, Line 82 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 9E · Line 82

Position of Panel 9E 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
Warrant Officer 1 (WO1)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Helicopter Pilot, Utility And Light Cargo Single Rotor (062B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
June 9, 1942

Casualty

Date of death
July 27, 1966
Age
24
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

18 names on the Wall carry the date July 27, 1966. In July 1966, 562 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 16 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 9E, Line 82

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.