The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, leave a UH-1D at LZ X-Ray, Ia Đrăng, November 1965.
Troopers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, leave a UH-1D at LZ X-Ray, Ia Đrăng, November 1965. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Carl Michael Hume.

The Wall › Panel 3E › California › Carl Michael Hume

CARL MICHAEL HUME

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

September 30, 1945 – November 17, 1965

Service record

Carl Michael Hume, of Fresno, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 17, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 3E, Line 87 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3E · Line 87

Position of Panel 3E 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Radio Operator (05B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
September 30, 1945
Home of record
Fresno, California (Fresno County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 17, 1965
Age
20
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

161 names on the Wall carry the date November 17, 1965. In November 1965, 545 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 318 of its members that month.

He died in South Vietnam while the Battle of the Ia Đrăng Valley was under way. In the Ia Đrăng Valley (14–18 November 1965), battalions of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) fought North Vietnamese regulars at Landing Zones X-Ray and Albany — the first major battle between the two armies and the first great test of the helicopter war. The record gives the date and his unit, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), which fought in the battle, but not the exact place.

Also on Panel 3E, Line 87

Same unit, same day

From Fresno

All 67 names from Fresno →

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.