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 Ray Owens.

The Wall › Panel 10E › California › Billy Ray Owens

BILLY RAY OWENS

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

October 17, 1943 – August 22, 1966

Service record

Billy Ray Owens, of Moss Beach, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on August 22, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 10E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 10E · Line 26

Position of Panel 10E 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
October 17, 1943
Home of record
Moss Beach, California (San Mateo County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 22, 1966
Age
22
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

11 names on the Wall carry the date August 22, 1966. In August 1966, 501 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 84 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 10E, Line 26

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.