The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Steven Charles Erbentraut.

The Wall › Panel 30W › Massachusetts › Steven Charles Erbentraut

STEVEN CHARLES ERBENTRAUT

Private First Class · U.S. Army

May 23, 1948 – March 9, 1969

Service record

Steven Charles Erbentraut, of Springfield, Massachusetts, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 9, 1969, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 30W, Line 87 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 30W · Line 87

Position of Panel 30W 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
May 23, 1948
Home of record
Springfield, Massachusetts (Hampden County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 9, 1969
Age
20
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

72 names on the Wall carry the date March 9, 1969; 12 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 156 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 30W, Line 87

Same unit, same day

From Springfield

All 47 names from Springfield →

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.