HONORED ON PANEL 11E, LINE 55 OF THE WALL
DAVID WESLEY BRANCH
WALL NAME
DAVID W BRANCH
PANEL / LINE
11E/55
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR DAVID WESLEY BRANCH
POSTED ON 5.6.2025
POSTED BY: [email protected]
Final Mission of PFC David W. Branch
Operation Sioux City (September 26 - October 9, 1966) was 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team search and destroy operation to locate and destroy Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army forces and installations northwest of Xom Cat in Bien Hoa Province, RVN. The operational area contained a high level of VC activity with the 800 Dong Nai VC Battalion, the 303rd Liberation Front Battalion, and several transient VC units believed to be operating in the area. On the first two days of the operation, combat assaults conducted by brigade units of the 503rd Infantry Regiment secured predetermined positions in the operations area. Once established on the ground, the troopers conducted local patrols and ambushes to secure their positions. Meanwhile, armored units secured local roads and engineer units swept them for mines. On the twelfth day of the operation (October 7th), Sky Troopers from E/17th Cavalry Regiment were providing security for a 173rd Engineer Company work party on Route Blue in the operational area. Around mid-morning, a five-ton dump truck hit an anti-tank mine injuring two engineers and severely damaging the truck. Later that afternoon, the engineers located a homemade VC mine on interprovincial route LTL-16, nine kilometers (5.5 miles) northwest of Tan Uyen. While attempting to disable the mine, it exploded. The blast killed three and wounded two. Lost were engineers PFC John F. Dalola III and PFC Frank M. Sokolowski and infantryman PFC David W. Branch. [Sourced at coffeltdatabase.org and “Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Combat After Action Report, Operation Sioux City (18 April 1967)” at archive.com]
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POSTED ON 6.10.2021
POSTED BY: Donna Moore
Happy Heavenly Birthday
You will forever remain in our hearts and prayers
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POSTED ON 6.8.2021
POSTED BY: john fabris
honoring you as your heavenly birthday approaches....
Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...
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POSTED ON 5.31.2021
POSTED BY: ALPHONSO TOWNSEL
DAVID WESLEY BRANCH
I remember David Branch well. His Brother Charles Branch and I were teammates on the Bethune Cookman College football team and David would visit our practices. I last saw David at one of these practices as he sat and watched with his leg in a cast from his own high school football participation. Shocked then and now with his loss. God Bless David and his family.
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