The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Van Allen Irwin.

The Wall › Panel 50W › California › Van Allen Irwin

VAN ALLEN IRWIN

Sergeant First Class · U.S. Army

September 26, 1937 – July 25, 1968

Service record

Van Allen Irwin, of Northridge, California, served as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on July 25, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 30. His name is inscribed on Panel 50W, Line 6 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 50W · Line 6

Position of Panel 50W 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

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
Sergeant First Class (SFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
September 26, 1937
Home of record
Northridge, California (Los Angeles County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 25, 1968
Age
30
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

40 names on the Wall carry the date July 25, 1968; nine of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In July 1968, 993 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 80 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 50W, Line 6

Same unit, same day

From Northridge

All 12 names from Northridge →

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.