The Wall › Panel 51E › Florida › Willie Gene Bridges
WILLIE GENE BRIDGES
Private First Class · U.S. Army
March 14, 1944 – April 21, 1968
Service recordWillie Gene Bridges, of Ruskin, Florida, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on April 21, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 51E, Line 16 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 51E · Line 16
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)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- March 14, 1944
- Home of record
- Ruskin, Florida (Hillsborough County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 21, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
60 names on the Wall carry the date April 21, 1968; two of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 66 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 51E, Line 16
- BILLY CARL ARMSTRONGSergeant · April 21, 1968
- IRVING DONALD BARROWSPrivate First Class · April 21, 1968
- MCDONALD E BOYCECorporal · April 21, 1968
- ALFRED BENNETT CAFRELLISpecialist Four · April 21, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CHARLES J MEERHOLZ JRSpecialist Four · Panel 51E, Line 26
From Ruskin
- BENJAMIN EDWIN LENNARD JRSpecialist Four · April 14, 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.