Rank: First Lieutenant
Unit: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 4000 – Supply Officer, General
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Reserve
Commission Source: Armor OCS Class 22-67 A2, Fort Knox, Kentucky
Date of birth: 8-May-1946
Hometown: Winter Haven, Florida
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 17-Jul-1963
Start of tour: 24-Aug-1968
Incident date: 19-Jun-1969
Date of casualty: 19-Jun-1969
Age at death: 23
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
Richard Wilson Cole was killed while at a night defensive position when the area came under attack by a hostile force. / At night defensive position (NDP). Came under hostile rocket attack.
Two Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
1LT Richard Wilson Cole
SP4 Calvin Gene Hunt
Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam, XT 814 908
Place of interment: Lakeside Memorial Park, Winter Haven, Florida, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)