The Wall › Panel 37E › Pennsylvania › William David Eltringham
WILLIAM DAVID ELTRINGHAM
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
February 24, 1945 – February 6, 1968
Service recordWilliam David Eltringham, of Branch Dale, Pennsylvania, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 6, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 54 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 54
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
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- February 24, 1945
- Home of record
- Branch Dale, Pennsylvania (Schuylkill County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 6, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
147 names on the Wall carry the date February 6, 1968; 13 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 168 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 37E, Line 54
- RAYMOND EARL DUNLAPSecond Lieutenant · February 6, 1968
- JOHN H EDWARDS JRSpecialist Four · February 6, 1968
- WILLIAM EISTERSpecialist Five · February 6, 1968
- MICHAEL ALLARD HODGEPrivate First Class · February 6, 1968
Same unit, same day
- DENNIS EDWARD BURKESecond Lieutenant · Panel 37E, Line 50
- BERNARD JOHN BURNS JRSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 51
- CURTIS DEAN SCOWDENSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 69
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.