The Wall › Panel 14E › Colorado › Claude Arnold Silva
CLAUDE ARNOLD SILVA
Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force
May 12, 1936 – January 29, 1967
Service recordClaude Arnold Silva, of Monte Vista, Colorado, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on January 29, 1967, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 96 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 14E · Line 96
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Air Force
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Electronic Warfare Officer (1575A)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 354 TFS
- Born
- May 12, 1936
- Home of record
- Monte Vista, Colorado (Rio Grande County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 29, 1967
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
16 names on the Wall carry the date January 29, 1967. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 14E, Line 96
- FREDERICK MONOTT BONANNOSpecialist Five · January 29, 1967
- RONNIE ELLIS REEDERCorporal · January 29, 1967
- STANLEY A ROBINSON JRSpecialist Four · January 29, 1967
- DONALD SHERRIL SULLIVANSpecialist Four · January 29, 1967
From Monte Vista
- MELVIN EUGENE CROSSMANCorporal · December 13, 1967
- LE ROY FELIX MARTINEZPrivate First Class · May 25, 1970
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.