The Wall › Panel 40E › Missouri › Cary Carson Smith
CARY CARSON SMITH
First Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps
April 18, 1945 – February 22, 1968
Service recordCary Carson Smith, of Kansas City, Missouri, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 22, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 69 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 69
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- First Lieutenant (1STLT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Pilot Ch-53 A/D Qualified (I) (7564)
- Born
- April 18, 1945
- Home of record
- Kansas City, Missouri (Multiple County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 22, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
76 names on the Wall carry the date February 22, 1968; 16 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 40E, Line 69
- HECTOR LUIS SEMIDEYPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
- JERRY WALTON SMITHPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
- BRUCE ALAN SWAIMPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
- LEE G TOLLEYPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
From Kansas City
- PATRICK PEARSE MANNINGPrivate First Class · July 30, 1965
- FRANK ALLEN GIVENPrivate First Class · August 24, 1965
- MICHAEL STEVENS HARRISPrivate First Class · December 9, 1965
- LESTER A ROGERSFirst Lieutenant · February 28, 1966
- JEROME NIXONPrivate First Class · March 23, 1966
- CHARLES R LAWHONWarrant Officer 1 · May 6, 1966
- JAMES PAUL DEBRULERPrivate First Class · May 21, 1966
- DAYTON WILLIAM RAGLANDColonel · May 31, 1966
- ROBERT WILLIAM PECKPrivate First Class · July 10, 1966
- EUGENE JOLLYSpecialist Five · July 11, 1966
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.