The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966.
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Clyde Ray Welch.

The Wall › Panel 11E › Texas › Clyde Ray Welch

CLYDE RAY WELCH

Commander · U.S. Navy

September 8, 1928 – October 26, 1966

Service record

Clyde Ray Welch, of Somerville, Texas, served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy. He died on October 26, 1966, in North Vietnam, at age 38. His name is inscribed on Panel 11E, Line 111 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11E · Line 111

Position of Panel 11E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Commander (CDR)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Url Pilot (1315)
Unit (as recorded)
7 FLT
Born
September 8, 1928
Home of record
Somerville, Texas (Burleson County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 26, 1966
Age
38
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Drowning

Context · from the records

What was happening

54 names on the Wall carry the date October 26, 1966. In October 1966, 516 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “7 FLT”, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.

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.

Also on Panel 11E, Line 111

Same unit, same day

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.