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 Carl Lee Thornton.

The Wall › Panel 2W › Georgia › Carl Lee Thornton

CARL LEE THORNTON

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

February 21, 1937 – November 28, 1971

Service record

Carl Lee Thornton, of Gainesville, Georgia, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 28, 1971, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 34. His name is inscribed on Panel 2W, Line 80 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 2W · Line 80

Position of Panel 2W 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
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Food Service Specialist (94B)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
February 21, 1937
Home of record
Gainesville, Georgia (Hall County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 28, 1971
Age
34
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

35 names on the Wall carry the date November 28, 1971; 34 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In November 1971, 109 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 47 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 2W, Line 80

Same unit, same day

From Gainesville

All 14 names from Gainesville →

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.