The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of David Arthur Davidson.

The Wall › Panel 7W › Maryland › David Arthur Davidson

DAVID ARTHUR DAVIDSON

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

March 8, 1947 – October 5, 1970

Service record

David Arthur Davidson, of East Riverdale, Maryland, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He was lost on October 5, 1970, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 7W, Line 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 7W · Line 112

Position of Panel 7W 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
SPECIAL FORCES
Born
March 8, 1947
Home of record
East Riverdale, Maryland (Prince George's County)

Casualty

Date of loss
October 5, 1970
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

13 names on the Wall carry the date October 5, 1970. In October 1970, 318 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 5 of its members that month.

He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.

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.

Also on Panel 7W, Line 112

Same unit, same day

From East Riverdale

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.