Rank: Staff Sergeant
Unit: A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 3-May-1938
Hometown: Las Cruces, New Mexico
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 11-Sep-1957
Start of tour: 10-Jun-1969
Incident date: 15-Jan-1970
Date of casualty: 15-Jan-1970
Age at death: 31
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
David Cruz Chavez was killed while at a night defensive position when the area came under attack by a hostile force. / At night defensive position. Engaged hostile force in firefight.
Two Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SSG David Cruz Chavez
PFC Ronald James Fuite
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 273 780
Place of interment: Saint Joseph Cemetery, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA
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