The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Wallace Abshear.

The Wall › Panel 30W › Maryland › William Wallace Abshear

WILLIAM WALLACE ABSHEAR

Sergeant · U.S. Army

June 3, 1948 – March 7, 1969

Service record

William Wallace Abshear, of Hillcrest Heights, Maryland, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 7, 1969, in Long An Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 30W, Line 61 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 30W · Line 61

Position of Panel 30W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
9 INF DIV
Born
June 3, 1948
Home of record
Hillcrest Heights, Maryland (Prince George's County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 7, 1969
Age
20
Province
Long An
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

45 names on the Wall carry the date March 7, 1969; he was the only one lost in Long An Province that day. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 78 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 30W, Line 61

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.