The Wall › Panel 45E › Alabama › Virgil Eugene Childers
VIRGIL EUGENE CHILDERS
Corporal · U.S. Army
July 6, 1947 – March 17, 1968
Service recordVirgil Eugene Childers, of Sumiton, Alabama, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on March 17, 1968, in Binh Thuy Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 9 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 9
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 9 INF DIV
- Born
- July 6, 1947
- Home of record
- Sumiton, Alabama (Walker County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 17, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Binh Thuy
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
48 names on the Wall carry the date March 17, 1968; he was the only one lost in Binh Thuy Province that day. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 101 of its members that month.
He died in Binh Thuy 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 45E, Line 9
- ROBERT BYREL CANNONPrivate First Class · March 17, 1968
- GEORGE WILLIAM COLEMANSecond Lieutenant · March 17, 1968
- DENNIS LANE CUNNINGHAMSpecialist Four · March 17, 1968
- ALLEN PAUL SHEEHANPrivate First Class · March 17, 1968
Same unit, same day
- HERMANN DOELGER-LANDIVARPrivate First Class · Panel 45E, Line 10
- JOE RUSSELL PECKSpecialist Four · Panel 45E, Line 14
- JLYNN ROSS JRStaff Sergeant · Panel 45E, Line 14
From Sumiton
- JAMES WALTER ELENBURGSpecialist Four · May 21, 1966
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.