The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966.
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Bennie Richard Lambton.

The Wall › Panel 8E › Indiana › Bennie Richard Lambton

BENNIE RICHARD LAMBTON

Chief Petty Officer · U.S. Navy

August 7, 1930 – June 13, 1966

Service record

Bennie Richard Lambton, of Indianapolis, Indiana, served as a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy. He died on June 13, 1966, in North Vietnam, at age 35. His name is inscribed on Panel 8E, Line 47 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 8E · Line 47

Position of Panel 8E 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Chief Petty Officer (CPO)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
VAP 61 USS HANCOCK CVA 19
Born
August 7, 1930
Home of record
Indianapolis, Indiana (Marion County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 13, 1966
Age
35
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

15 names on the Wall carry the date June 13, 1966. In June 1966, 595 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “VAP 61 USS HANCOCK CVA 19”, his unit in the record, lost 3 of its members that month.

He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 8E, Line 47

Same unit, same day

From Indianapolis

All 204 names from Indianapolis →

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.