Date of birth: 22 October 1949 Date tour began: 10 June 1969 Date of casualty: 8 July 1969 Home of record: Boring, Oregon Branch and Rank: Army, Specialist Four, Light Weapons Infantry Unit: 1st Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry, E Company Awards: National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge Location of name on the Vietnam Wall: 21W, 81
Location of service: South Vietnam, Tay Ninh province Died through non-hostile action – drowned.
Schools attended: Gresham High School Burial location: Willamette National Cemetery Memorials: Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington, DC), Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Portland), Gresham Heroes Memorial.
The Oregonian, Tuesday, July 15, 1969 Boring GI Listed Dead WASHINGTON (AP) – An Army man from Boring, Ore., has been added to the list of men killed in Vietnam, the Defense Department announced Monday. Spec. 4 Virgil A. Calkins Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Virgil A. Calkins Sr., was changed from missing to dead on the Defense Department lists. He was the 503rd Oregon man killed in Vietnam since the start of hostilities in 1961 and the 99th this year.
The Oregonian, Saturday, July 19, 1969 CALKINS – Virgil A. Jr. SP-4, Rt. 2, Boring; son of Mr. and Mrs. Virgil A. Sr.; brother of Vicky and Lori; grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Dillon, Mrs. Verna Calkins. Services Tuesday, July 22, 10:30 am. Chapel of CARROLL FUNERAL HOME, Gresham. Interment Willamette National Cemetery.
The following remembrance was left for him at https://army.togetherweserved.com. (from) High School classmate, 2 houses down the hill from Virgil, Boring, OR I went to hi school with Virgil. Was his friend and neighbor. I was in country at the same time. He wanted to play the guitar, I miss him.
