The Wall › Panel 38E › Kentucky › Stephan Leroy Bechtel
STEPHAN LEROY BECHTEL
Petty Officer Third Class · U.S. Navy
February 7, 1948 – February 11, 1968
Service recordStephan Leroy Bechtel, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, served as a Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 11, 1968, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 75 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 75
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. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer Third Class (PO3)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Born
- February 7, 1948
- Home of record
- Harrodsburg, Kentucky (Mercer County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 11, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tin
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
44 names on the Wall carry the date February 11, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Tín 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.
Also on Panel 38E, Line 75
- RONALD S BAGENSpecialist Five · February 11, 1968
- JOSEPH PERRY BOWLINGSergeant · February 11, 1968
- GIVEN WEST BRADLEYSpecialist Four · February 11, 1968
- DOYLE LEROY BUTLER JRSecond Lieutenant · February 11, 1968
From Harrodsburg
- JOHN BETHEL TAPPLieutenant Commander · March 23, 1966
- HOWARD HADDEN DEANSergeant · January 26, 1967
- NATHAN LYEN ROBINSONSergeant · February 25, 1968
- CECIL DAUGHERTYSergeant · September 20, 1969
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.