The Wall › Panel 47E › Virginia › Arthur Burman Smith
ARTHUR BURMAN SMITH
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
July 14, 1943 – March 31, 1968
Service recordArthur Burman Smith, of Riner, Virginia, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 31, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 27 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 47E · Line 27
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 199 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- July 14, 1943
- Home of record
- Riner, Virginia (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 31, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Gia Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
52 names on the Wall carry the date March 31, 1968; two of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 199th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 26 of its members that month.
He died in Gia Dinh Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 47E, Line 27
- TIMOTHY JOHN SHORTENFirst Lieutenant · March 31, 1968
- DANNY LYNN STEPHENSPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
- EDWARD THOMAS STONE JRPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
- THOMAS PAUL SWEENEYPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
Same unit, same day
- WAYNE ALLEN HOKENSONSpecialist Four · Panel 47E, Line 22
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.