The Wall › Panel 42E › North Carolina › Walter Wilber Vail
WALTER WILBER VAIL
Technical Sergeant · U.S. Air Force
January 31, 1935 – February 28, 1968
Service recordWalter Wilber Vail, of Plymouth, North Carolina, served as a Technical Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on February 28, 1968, in Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 33. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 1
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. Air Force
- Rank
- Technical Sergeant (TSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Born
- January 31, 1935
- Home of record
- Plymouth, North Carolina (Washington County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 33
- Province
- Bien Hoa
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
91 names on the Wall carry the date February 28, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Bien Hoa Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Bien Hoa 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 42E, Line 1
- GENE CALVIN REIDSpecialist Four · February 28, 1968
- JOHN ALFRED THOTLANDLance Corporal · February 28, 1968
- JIMMIE LESTER TODDMaster Sergeant · February 28, 1968
- WILLIAM OLIVER TURNERCorporal · February 28, 1968
- ROBERT EARL WESLEYStaff Sergeant · February 28, 1968
From Plymouth
- JAMES POLK SPRUILLCaptain · April 21, 1964
- HURIEL LEE MOOREPrivate First Class · April 29, 1968
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.