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 Dwight William Cook.

The Wall › Panel 1W › Iowa › Dwight William Cook

DWIGHT WILLIAM COOK

First Lieutenant · U.S. Air Force

July 8, 1948 – September 21, 1972

Service record

Dwight William Cook, of Center Point, Iowa, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on September 21, 1972, in Laos, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 74 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 74

Position of Panel 1W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Air Force
Rank
First Lieutenant (1STLT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Born
July 8, 1948
Home of record
Center Point, Iowa (Linn County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 21, 1972
Age
24
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

Two names on the Wall carry the date September 21, 1972. In September 1972, 36 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 1W, Line 74

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.