VACHON WILBUR JOSEPH III

Name: WO1 Wilbur Joseph Vachon III
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 07/10/1969 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Died 7 days later on 07/17/1969.
Age at death: 21.9
Date of Birth: 09/05/1947
Home City: Portland, ME
Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: HHC 16 CAG 23 INF
Major organization: Americal Division
Flight class: 69-13
Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 20W-012
Short Summary: Killed by a "dud" grenade thrown by an instructor during orientation training at LZ Bayonet south of Chu Lai. Venditti also killed.
Service number: W3164754
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 004A = Duties Unassigned or In Transit
Primary cause: Ground Casualty
Compliment cause: grenades
Started Tour: 07/03/1969
"Official" listing: ground casualty
Location: Quang Tin Province I Corps.

Additional information about this casualty:
Vinditti and Vachon. They were both room mates of mine thru flight school class 69-13. We never called each other by our first names. We were assigned four to a room alphabetically and my last name is Waugh. I thought it was unusual that they were assigned to the same unit in Viet Nam after having gone all the way thru flight school together. It is even more tragic that they died from the same senseless incident. I wish that my memory was better and that I could relate some happy story about our time together in flight school, but it has been over 36 years since those days. I can tell their families that I was proud to have been their room mate. I would also state that in effect all causalities of war are accidents. Their sacrifice is no less because of a terrible accident that if they had been shot by the enemy or perished in a aircraft crash. Bill Waugh Class 69-13

Reason: other accident
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died illness or injuries
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Burial information: CALVARY CEMETERY, SOUTH PORTLAND, ME
The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer
This record was last updated on 04/26/2002


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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