Richard Joseph Wehrheim

Richard Joseph Wehrheim attended Saint John’s School and graduated from Clarion High School. He attended Eagle Grove Junior College before he joined the Army on his birthday in 1966 out of Des Moines. Wehrheim completed his training and was sent to South Vietnam in January 1967. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, also known as the Big Red 1. In July of the same year, PFC Wehrheim was offered a leave for rest-and-relaxation time. He decided to instead let a fellow soldier take his leave to visit a girl in Hawaii. If he had taken his scheduled leave, PFC Wehrheim would not have been at the Phuoc Vinh Base Camp when it was attacked. He was killed on July 27, 1967 from multiple fragmentation wounds inflicted by enemy rocket fire at Phuoc Vinh. The Iowan was 20 years old at the time of his death. His body was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Eagle Grove.