The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ervin Dale Smith.

The Wall › Panel 37W › Oklahoma › Ervin Dale Smith

ERVIN DALE SMITH

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

December 21, 1947 – December 9, 1968

Service record

Ervin Dale Smith, of Yukon, Oklahoma, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on December 9, 1968, in Binh Long Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 37W, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 37W · Line 78

Position of Panel 37W 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 Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
December 21, 1947
Home of record
Yukon, Oklahoma (Canadian County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 9, 1968
Age
20
Province
Binh Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

31 names on the Wall carry the date December 9, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Binh Long Province. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 103 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 37W, Line 78

Same unit, same day

From Yukon

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.