The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Wesley George Thurston.

The Wall › Panel 37E › New York › Wesley George Thurston

WESLEY GEORGE THURSTON

Private First Class · U.S. Army

January 29, 1942 – February 5, 1968

Service record

Wesley George Thurston, of Rochester, New York, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 5, 1968, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 46 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 37E · Line 46

Position of Panel 37E 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)
25 INF DIV
Born
January 29, 1942
Home of record
Rochester, New York (Monroe County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 5, 1968
Age
26
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

83 names on the Wall carry the date February 5, 1968; six of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.

He died in Bình Dương 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 37E, Line 46

Same unit, same day

From Rochester

All 107 names from Rochester →

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.