Rank: Private, Pv-2 (Army), Pvt (Airforce, Marine Corps)
Unit: H Company, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart 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: 24-Jan-1949
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Start of tour: 6-May-1968
Incident date: 21-Dec-1968
Date of casualty: 21-Dec-1968
Age at death: 19
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Drowning. Drowned, suffocated.
Earl William Thomas Jr drowned while in military vehicle on combat operation when vehicle overturned in water while engaging hostile force in firefight.
Two Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Richard Charles Bachert
PVT Earl William Thomas Jr
Location of fatality: Binh Duong, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Paradise North Cemetery, Houston, Texas, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)