VIETNAM - THORSON, ERNEST LEROY

Thorson, Ernest Leroy

VIETNAM - THORSON, ERNEST LEROY
THORSON, ERNEST LEROY

Rank: Private First Class

Unit: C Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist

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: Selected Service

Date of birth: 24-May-1950

Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Marital status: Married to Diane L. Thorson

Campaign: Vietnam Conflict

Entered service: 25-Sep-1969

Start of tour: 1-Mar-1970

Incident date: 26-Apr-1970

Date of casualty: 26-Apr-1970

Age at death: 19

Cause of death: Hostile, died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
Ernest Leroy Thorson was killed while at a night defensive position when the area came under mortar attack by a hostile force. / At night defensive position. Received hostile mortar attack. / Hit by shrapnel from an exploding enemy mortar.

Two Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
PFC Bruce Harold Bardon
PFC Ernest Leroy Thorson

Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 437 767

Place of interment: Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

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

Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 11W 054 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)