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
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