The Wall › Panel 14E › Washington › Frank Lee Smith
FRANK LEE SMITH
Private First Class · U.S. Army
December 30, 1941 – January 16, 1967
Service recordFrank Lee Smith, of Stanwood, Washington, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on January 16, 1967, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 14E · Line 41
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- December 30, 1941
- Home of record
- Stanwood, Washington (Snohomish County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 16, 1967
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
13 names on the Wall carry the date January 16, 1967; ten of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 18 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Dương Province while Operation Cedar Falls was under way. Operation Cedar Falls (8–26 January 1967) sent some 30,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into the “Iron Triangle” northwest of Saigon to destroy Viet Cong base areas and tunnels. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 14E, Line 41
- FRANK THOMAS KRESESKIE JRPrivate First Class · January 16, 1967
- ROBERT JOHN WELCHColonel · January 16, 1967
- ARTHUR WAYNE WILKIESpecialist Four · January 16, 1967
- LOWELL ASTLEY WOLFRIESStaff Sergeant · January 16, 1967
Same unit, same day
- MARIO RAMIREZSergeant · Panel 14E, Line 40
- ARTHUR WAYNE WILKIESpecialist Four · Panel 14E, Line 41
- JEROME VINCENT ZERFASSPrivate First Class · Panel 14E, Line 42
From Stanwood
- WARREN GARY PETERSONPrivate First Class · February 10, 1966
- GEORGE MICHAEL BROZSecond Lieutenant · December 27, 1967
- JACOB CLARK LAANSpecialist Four · March 3, 1969
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.