The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Joseph Obrien.

The Wall › Panel 17E › Pennsylvania › William Joseph Obrien

WILLIAM JOSEPH OBRIEN

Private First Class · U.S. Army

February 21, 1946 – March 22, 1967

Service record

William Joseph Obrien, of South Connellsville, Pennsylvania, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 22, 1967, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 22 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 17E · Line 22

Position of Panel 17E 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
February 21, 1946
Home of record
South Connellsville, Pennsylvania (Fayette County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 22, 1967
Age
21
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

53 names on the Wall carry the date March 22, 1967; 27 of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 145 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 17E, Line 22

Same unit, same day

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.