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
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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)