The Wall › Panel 46E › Massachusetts › William Jose Shortsleeves
WILLIAM JOSE SHORTSLEEVES
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
May 31, 1948 – March 25, 1968
Service recordWilliam Jose Shortsleeves, of Malden, Massachusetts, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 25, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 46E, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 46E · Line 18
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
- Regular
- Occupation
- Light Vehicle Driver (64A)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- May 31, 1948
- Home of record
- Malden, Massachusetts (Middlesex County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 25, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
64 names on the Wall carry the date March 25, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 208 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. 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 46E, Line 18
- JOHN LAWRENCE HIGGINSSpecialist Four · March 25, 1968
- CHARLES ALBON HINCKLEYChief Warrant Officer 4 · March 25, 1968
- ROY L JOHNSONSpecialist Five · March 25, 1968
- WALLACE B JOHNSON IIIPetty Officer Second Class · March 25, 1968
Same unit, same day
- MCARTHUR CALLAWAYCorporal · Panel 46E, Line 14
- JOHN ELLSWORTH HEFTYSergeant · Panel 46E, Line 17
- BENNETT JAMES HERRICKSpecialist Four · Panel 46E, Line 17
- GARY RAY WIGINTONPrivate First Class · Panel 46E, Line 26
From Malden
- JOHN F WADENPrivate First Class · November 21, 1966
- CHARLES WILLIAM ROBERTSONCaptain · January 9, 1967
- PETER MICHAEL SULLIVANPrivate First Class · February 8, 1967
- JOHN RICHARD MEUSEPrivate First Class · May 3, 1967
- EDWIN JAMES CASALETTOStaff Sergeant · May 29, 1967
- RAYMOND ALBERT GIGNACMaster Sergeant · January 19, 1968
- RODNEY ARTHUR ALFANOFirst Lieutenant · February 2, 1968
- SAMUEL JAMES RUMSON JRPrivate First Class · March 8, 1968
- DAVID EDWARD GREGOIRELance Corporal · March 20, 1968
- WILLIAM PAUL HURLEY JRMajor · March 29, 1968
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.