The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of David Bruce Kelley.

The Wall › Panel 51W › California › David Bruce Kelley

DAVID BRUCE KELLEY

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

January 30, 1948 – July 22, 1968

Service record

David Bruce Kelley, of Los Angeles, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on July 22, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 51W, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 51W · Line 33

Position of Panel 51W 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Heavy Construction Equipment Operator (62E)
Unit (as recorded)
137 CO 19 ENG BN USARV
Born
January 30, 1948
Home of record
Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 22, 1968
Age
20
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

43 names on the Wall carry the date July 22, 1968; 13 of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In July 1968, 993 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “137 CO 19 ENG BN USARV”, his unit in the record, lost 12 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 51W, Line 33

Same unit, same day

From Los Angeles

All 540 names from Los Angeles →

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.