The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Aaron Leon Thomas.

The Wall › Panel 12E › Pennsylvania › Aaron Leon Thomas

AARON LEON THOMAS

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

December 1, 1947 – November 4, 1966

Service record

Aaron Leon Thomas, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 4, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 12E, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 12E · Line 18

Position of Panel 12E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
December 1, 1947
Home of record
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 4, 1966
Age
18
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

49 names on the Wall carry the date November 4, 1966. In November 1966, 641 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 101 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 12E, Line 18

Same unit, same day

From Philadelphia

All 622 names from Philadelphia →

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.