VIETNAM - HUTCHINS, TOLER LEE JR

Hutchins, Toler Lee Jr

VIETNAM - HUTCHINS, TOLER LEE JR
HUTCHINS, TOLER LEE JR

Rank: Specialist 4

Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

MOS: 11B – Infantryman

Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge

Unit awards: Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device

Note: M-113A1, ACAV, K-18

Enlisted by: Selected Service

Date of birth: 5-Sep-1945

Hometown: Colt, Arkansas

Marital status: Married to Lina A. Hutchins

Campaign: Vietnam Conflict

Entered service: 25-Mar-1966

Start of tour: 12-Dec-1966

Incident date: 21-May-1967

Date of casualty: 21-May-1967

Age at death: 21

Cause of death: Hostile, died. Burns/Smoke Inhalation. Burns.
Toler Lee Hutchins Jr was a passenger on a military vehicle on convoy when unit engaged hostile force in firefight.

Seventeen Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP5 William Phillip Centers Jr
SGT Eugene Harold Dickinson
PVT Jerry Lee Houser
SP4 Toler Lee Hutchins Jr
SP4 Phillip Earl Ireland
SSG James Albert Jackson
SGT Alfred Lee
PFC Patrick Michael Loisel
SP4 Henry David McInnis
SP4 James David McWhorter
SP4 Anthony Wilfred Roybal
PFC Rodolfo Andres Saenz
SSG Walter Stephen Simpson
PFC William Charles Stanley
SP4 James Thomas Steighner
SP4 Dwight Elmer Timberlake
SP4 Larry Allen Williamson

Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam

Place of interment: Casteel Cemetery, Arkansas, USA

View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 20E 075 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)

 

BRONZE STAR MEDAL

BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS

SPECIALIST FOUR TOLER LEE HUTCHINS JR
21 MAY 1967
K TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT

Specialist Four Hitchins distinguished himself by valorous actions on 21 May 1967, while serving as machine gunner and observer on an Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle during a fierce encounter with the enemy on Route 1 near Soui Cat, Vietnam. As the armored convoy moved down a narrow road bordered on both sides with brush and slight vegetation, it suddenly came under a murderous volume of recoilless rifle and automatic weapons fire from a well-entrenched numerically superior Viet Cong force. Fearing for the safety of his fellow comrades, Specialist Hutchins alertly detected the hostile position and immediately began directing his suppressive fire on the hostile troops. As the battle raged on, Specialist Hutchins’ vehicle was struck by several anti-tank rounds. Although wounded and suffering great pain, Specialist Hutchins continued to aggressively deliver counter-fire until he was mortally wounded by a hostile round. Specialist Four Hutchins’ personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 1938 (27 June 1967)