Foulk, Paul
Greenville, PA
U.S. Army, Vietnam
Paul Frederick Foulk of Greenville was drafted in October, 1968, but unlike most draftees, he could have avoided being sent to Vietnam.
“My father knew a high ranking person in the army who said he could arrange for Paul to be assigned to Germany,” said his sister, Linda Brown. “But Paul wouldn’t do that. He volunteered to go to Vietnam because he felt it was his duty.”
When Paul was in training in Oklahoma, his friends thought he was in big trouble. A lieutenant colonel came to the barracks looking for him. But it was just one of his dad’s friends coming to take him home for dinner.
He arrived in Vietnam on April 4, 1969, and was assigned to B Battery, 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division in Bien Hoa, just north of Saigon.
The problem with firing artillery at the enemy is that artillery pieces make a lot of noise and blow out a lot of smoke. That makes you a prime target for enemy artillery.
Sometimes you luck out.
“A guy who knew him in Vietnam visited us,” Linda said. “He said that one time a mortar round or something landed near Paul, but it didn’t go off. “They figured out that it was a time release bomb, the first one they had ever seen. A lot of officials came in to check it out.”
And sometimes you don’t luck out. On September 7, 1969, Paul was killed by an enemy round.
He was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald G. Foulk, and by two sisters, Linda and Judy.
Paul was posthumously awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart.
On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W18 Line 54
