The Wall › Panel 45E › Indiana › William Eugene Darnell
WILLIAM EUGENE DARNELL
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
November 9, 1944 – March 19, 1968
Service recordWilliam Eugene Darnell, of Goshen, Indiana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 19, 1968, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 33
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- November 9, 1944
- Home of record
- Goshen, Indiana (Elkhart County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 19, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
19 names on the Wall carry the date March 19, 1968; he was the only one lost in Bình Dương Province that day. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 188 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 45E, Line 33
- THEODORE LEO ZAWISZASpecialist Four · March 18, 1968
- MARTIN BIONDOSpecialist Four · March 19, 1968
- CHARLES EDWARD BLAIRColonel · March 19, 1968
- JODY ALLEN CRONPrivate First Class · March 19, 1968
Same unit, same day
- MARTIN BIONDOSpecialist Four · Panel 45E, Line 33
From Goshen
- MICHAEL M KAUFFMAN IIPetty Officer Second Class · April 7, 1967
- MAX IRWIN BAERLance Corporal · March 20, 1969
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.
