The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Billy Jay Pitts.

The Wall › Panel 39W › Kentucky › Billy Jay Pitts

BILLY JAY PITTS

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

March 24, 1943 – November 3, 1968

Service record

Billy Jay Pitts, of Pyramid, Kentucky, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 3, 1968, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 39W, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 39W · Line 12

Position of Panel 39W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Bridge Crewmember (12C)
Unit (as recorded)
509 ENG CO 937 ENG GRP 18 ENG BDE
Born
March 24, 1943
Home of record
Pyramid, Kentucky (Floyd County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 3, 1968
Age
25
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Vehicle Crash (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

20 names on the Wall carry the date November 3, 1968; three of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 39W, Line 12

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.