The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Francis Desales Wills.

The Wall › Panel 5E › Maryland › Francis Desales Wills

FRANCIS DESALES WILLS

Private First Class · U.S. Army

October 18, 1944 – February 26, 1966

Service record

Francis Desales Wills, of La Plata, Maryland, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He was lost on February 26, 1966, in Phu Yen Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 82 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5E · Line 82

Position of Panel 5E 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. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
October 18, 1944
Home of record
La Plata, Maryland (Charles County)

Casualty

Date of loss
February 26, 1966
Province
Phu Yen
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Unknown
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

23 names on the Wall carry the date February 26, 1966; two of them were lost in Phu Yen Province. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 59 of its members that month.

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

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 5E, Line 82

Same unit, same day

From La Plata

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.