The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Durward Frank Ray.

The Wall › Panel 2E › Georgia › Durward Frank Ray

DURWARD FRANK RAY

Sergeant · U.S. Army

August 14, 1943 – July 7, 1965

Service record

Durward Frank Ray, of Columbus, Georgia, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on July 7, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 29 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 2E · Line 29

Position of Panel 2E 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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
August 14, 1943
Home of record
Columbus, Georgia (Muscogee County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 7, 1965
Age
21
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

11 names on the Wall carry the date July 7, 1965. In July 1965, 103 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 11 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 2E, Line 29

Same unit, same day

From Columbus

All 117 names from Columbus →

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.