The Wall › Panel 51E › Virginia › David Leo Cooley
DAVID LEO COOLEY
Commander · U.S. Navy
August 3, 1934 – April 22, 1968
Service recordDavid Leo Cooley, of Warwick, Virginia, served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on April 22, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 51E, Line 29 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 51E · Line 29
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. Navy
- Rank
- Commander (CDR)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1310)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 428 TACTICAL FTR SQ
- Born
- August 3, 1934
- Home of record
- Warwick, Virginia (Newport News (City) County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- April 22, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
38 names on the Wall carry the date April 22, 1968. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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.
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.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 51E, Line 29
- ALEXANDER CHISOLMLance Corporal · April 22, 1968
- WILLIAM CHOMYKFirst Lieutenant · April 22, 1968
- ROGER ALLAN DAINSSpecialist Five · April 22, 1968
- JOHN ARTHUR GREENFIELDSpecialist Four · April 22, 1968
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.