The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ernest Payne.

The Wall › Panel 55E › Louisiana › Ernest Payne

ERNEST PAYNE

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

June 25, 1948 – May 5, 1968

Service record

Ernest Payne, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on May 5, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 55E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 55E · Line 26

Position of Panel 55E 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
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
82 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
June 25, 1948
Home of record
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Casualty

Date of death
May 5, 1968
Age
19
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

189 names on the Wall carry the date May 5, 1968; 21 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 82nd Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 32 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 55E, Line 26

Same unit, same day

From Baton Rouge

All 46 names from Baton Rouge →

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.