The Wall › Panel 7W › Maryland › Donald Emerson Shay JR
DONALD EMERSON SHAY JR
Major · U.S. Air Force
March 16, 1946 – October 8, 1970
Service recordDonald Emerson Shay JR, of Linthicum Heights, Maryland, served as a Major in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on October 8, 1970, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 7W, Line 120 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 7W · Line 120
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. Air Force
- Rank
- Major (MAJ)
- Service
- Regular
- Unit (as recorded)
- 14 TRS 432 TRW UDORN AB
- Born
- March 16, 1946
- Home of record
- Linthicum Heights, Maryland (Anne Arundel County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- October 8, 1970
- Country
- Laos
- 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
Eight names on the Wall carry the date October 8, 1970. In October 1970, 318 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “14 TRS 432 TRW UDORN AB”, his unit in the record, lost 2 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.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 7W, Line 120
- ROBERT TRUGLIOPrivate First Class · October 8, 1970
- DAVID ARNOLD CONNELStaff Sergeant · October 9, 1970
- GEORGE W DANIELS JRPrivate · October 9, 1970
- FREDERICK AUGUST HOLSTPrivate First Class · October 9, 1970
Same unit, same day
- WILLIAM AUGUST OTTColonel · Panel 7W, Line 119
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.