The Wall › Panel 25W › Hawaii › Clifford Kazumi Taira
CLIFFORD KAZUMI TAIRA
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
July 4, 1948 – May 11, 1969
Service recordClifford Kazumi Taira, of Honolulu, Hawaii, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 11, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 25W, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 25W · Line 56
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
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- July 4, 1948
- Home of record
- Honolulu, Hawaii (Honolulu County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 11, 1969
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
65 names on the Wall carry the date May 11, 1969; six of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. 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 25W, Line 56
- WILLIAM SHELLEY SLAUGHTERSpecialist Five · May 11, 1969
- ROBERT B STARKES JRPrivate First Class · May 11, 1969
- WILLIAM HENRY SWANSONPrivate · May 11, 1969
- DAVID ALLEN TRINKALASpecialist Five · May 11, 1969
Same unit, same day
- BRUCE ANDREW GOURLAYPrivate · Panel 25W, Line 47
- HEINRICH RUHLMANNSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 48
- TERRY LEE LARSENSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 50
- JOHN EDWARD MCCARRELLSergeant · Panel 25W, Line 52
- AARON LIEB ROSENSTREICHSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 54
- JOHN MARSHALL RUCKERWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 25W, Line 54
From Honolulu
- JAMES GABRIEL JRSpecialist Five · April 8, 1962
- JAMES HIROSHI ISHIHARAChief Warrant Officer 3 · March 10, 1963
- ALAN YUKIO MATSUURAPrivate First Class · April 12, 1964
- JOSEPH N HAOSergeant First Class · November 14, 1964
- ALBERT KALAHANA KUEWAAirman · September 18, 1964
- FLORENDO B PASCUALSergeant First Class · November 3, 1965
- ROBERT HENRY WHITECorporal · December 3, 1965
- ROY SHIGERU KOBAYASHICaptain · January 23, 1966
- SAMUEL POOKEAOKAL GIFFARDStaff Sergeant · January 25, 1966
- GEORGE GRANT KING WEBB JRLance Corporal · February 10, 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.