The Wall › Panel 43E › North Carolina › Sonnie Stephens
SONNIE STEPHENS
Private First Class · U.S. Army
May 24, 1943 – March 8, 1968
Service recordSonnie Stephens, of White Oak, North Carolina, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 8, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 43E, Line 62 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 43E · Line 62
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- May 24, 1943
- Home of record
- White Oak, North Carolina (Bladen County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 8, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
68 names on the Wall carry the date March 8, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 208 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 43E, Line 62
- GEORGE WILLIAM STORZSergeant · March 8, 1968
- JOHN JOSEPH SULLIVANPrivate First Class · March 8, 1968
- ROBERT LEE TAYLOR JRCorporal · March 8, 1968
- DONALD ROBERT TITUSCorporal · March 8, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CRAIG ALAN ARNDTSpecialist Four · Panel 43E, Line 51
- BERNARD BONEYSpecialist Four · Panel 43E, Line 51
- WILLIAM JAMES BOWERSSpecialist Four · Panel 43E, Line 52
- SAMUEL BERNARD HUDSONPrivate First Class · Panel 43E, Line 55
- WAYNE MINOR KIDWELLSergeant · Panel 43E, Line 56
- DELMAR WAYNE PROBSTSecond Lieutenant · Panel 43E, Line 58
- MICHAEL ANGELO SHRAMKOPrivate First Class · Panel 43E, Line 61
- RODOLFO VILLAFRANCOSpecialist Four · Panel 43E, Line 63
- BEN HAROLD WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · Panel 43E, Line 64
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.