The Wall › Panel 30W › Illinois › William Dean Ryan
WILLIAM DEAN RYAN
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
May 30, 1947 – March 1, 1969
Service recordWilliam Dean Ryan, of Walnut Hill, Illinois, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on March 1, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 30W, Line 7 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 30W · Line 7
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Armor Crewman (11E)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 5 INF DIV MECH
- Born
- May 30, 1947
- Home of record
- Walnut Hill, Illinois (Marion County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 1, 1969
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
51 names on the Wall carry the date March 1, 1969; seven of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “5 INF DIV MECH”, his unit in the record, lost 31 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while Operation Dewey Canyon was under way. In Operation Dewey Canyon (22 January–18 March 1969) the 9th Marines struck North Vietnamese base areas in the Đa Krông and A Shau valleys, the last major Marine offensive 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.
Read the history
Also on Panel 30W, Line 7
- LAWRENCE WILLIAM PORTERPrivate First Class · March 1, 1969
- HENRY PULLUM JRSpecialist Four · March 1, 1969
- JOHN CHARLES SCHIFFHAUERSpecialist Five · March 1, 1969
- DAVID EDWARD SCHULZEPrivate First Class · March 1, 1969
Same unit, same day
- JOHN BROWN GIBSON JRStaff Sergeant · Panel 30W, Line 2
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.