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 Clyde Lancaster.

The Wall › Panel 4W › Washington › David Clyde Lancaster

DAVID CLYDE LANCASTER

Warrant Officer 1 · U.S. Army

May 18, 1948 – March 21, 1971

Service record

David Clyde Lancaster, of Everett, Washington, served as a Warrant Officer 1 in the U.S. Army. He died on March 21, 1971, in Laos, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 4W, Line 63 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 4W · Line 63

Position of Panel 4W 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
Warrant Officer 1 (WO1)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot (100B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
May 18, 1948
Home of record
Everett, Washington (Snohomish County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 21, 1971
Age
22
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

Nine names on the Wall carry the date March 21, 1971. In March 1971, 429 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 33 of its members that month.

He died in Laos while Operation Lam Son 719 was under way. In Lam Son 719 (February–March 1971), South Vietnamese troops drove into Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, carried and supported by U.S. helicopters and aircraft; more than 100 U.S. helicopters were lost.

Also on Panel 4W, Line 63

Same unit, same day

From Everett

All 30 names from Everett →

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.