The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William James Sugden.

The Wall › Panel 36W › Pennsylvania › William James Sugden

WILLIAM JAMES SUGDEN

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

September 2, 1949 – December 11, 1968

Service record

William James Sugden, of Verona, Pennsylvania, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on December 11, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 36W, Line 7 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 36W · Line 7

Position of Panel 36W 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
September 2, 1949
Home of record
Verona, Pennsylvania (Allegheny County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 11, 1968
Age
19
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

47 names on the Wall carry the date December 11, 1968; eight of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 106 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 36W, Line 7

Same unit, same day

From Verona

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.