The Wall › Panel 27E › Pennsylvania › Claude Allen Smith
CLAUDE ALLEN SMITH
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
March 29, 1946 – September 23, 1967
Service recordClaude Allen Smith, of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on September 23, 1967, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 27E, Line 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 27E · Line 4
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 3 BN 9 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- March 29, 1946
- Home of record
- Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (Delaware County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- September 23, 1967
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
Ten names on the Wall carry the date September 23, 1967; two of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In September 1967, 929 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “3 BN 9 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Con Thien was under way. Through September and October 1967, North Vietnamese artillery across the Demilitarized Zone pounded the Marine outpost at Con Thien and the bases along the DMZ in Quảng Trị Province. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 27E, Line 4
- JAMES ANDREW SWANCYCorporal · September 23, 1967
- ELISEO A ANDRADE JRFirst Lieutenant · September 24, 1967
- GORDON JOSEPH BRULE JRPrivate First Class · September 24, 1967
- WALTER BURNSStaff Sergeant · September 24, 1967
Same unit, same day
- PAUL LEE PRICECorporal · Panel 27E, Line 3
From Chadds Ford
- RAYMOND D CROWDER JRSpecialist Four · June 19, 1967
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.