VIETNAM - WHEELER, LARRY JAY

Wheeler, Larry Jay

VIETNAM - WHEELER, LARRY JAY
WHEELER, LARRY JAY

Rank: Specialist 4

Unit: F Troop, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

MOS: 11C – Indirect Fire Infantryman

Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge

Unit awards: Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device

Enlisted by: Selected Service

Date of birth: 12-Jun-1946

Hometown: Tangent, Oregon

Marital status: Never Married

Campaign: Vietnam Conflict

Entered service: 10-Apr-1968

Start of tour: 3-Sep-1968

Incident date: 12-Aug-1969

Date of casualty: 12-Aug-1969

Age at death: 23

Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Larry Jay Wheeler was killed while a passenger on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Scout observer on Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) on combat operation.  Engaged hostile force in firefight.

Five Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Marcello Nunez Barrios
1LT Jonathan Paul Hash
SGT Larry Roman Schmidt
SGT Christopher Cutler Webster
SP4 Larry Jay Wheeler

Location of fatality: Binh Long, South Vietnam, XT 784 814

Place of interment: Sand Ridge Cemetery, Lebanon, Oregon, USA

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

Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 19W 026 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)