The Wall › Panel 15E › California › Gary Kenneth Smith
GARY KENNETH SMITH
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 30, 1945 – February 27, 1967
Service recordGary Kenneth Smith, of Santa Ana, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 27, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 15E, Line 109 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 15E · Line 109
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
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- September 30, 1945
- Home of record
- Santa Ana, California (Orange County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 27, 1967
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
46 names on the Wall carry the date February 27, 1967; eight of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In February 1967, 767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 28 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. 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 15E, Line 109
- DONACIANO FRANCIS KAUFMANSergeant · February 27, 1967
- OTIS BEVERLEY SINKSergeant · February 27, 1967
- ARTHUR CLARENCE SISCO JRSpecialist Four · February 27, 1967
- VIRGIL STANLEY JRSpecialist Four · February 27, 1967
From Santa Ana
- WILLIAM FORBES EISENBRAUNCaptain · July 5, 1965
- RUSSELL LAVERNE BISHOPSergeant · March 21, 1966
- CLYDE D MCDONALD IIPrivate First Class · March 25, 1966
- DONALD LEROY HEASTONPlatoon Sergeant · August 23, 1966
- CHARLES EUGENE STOKESPrivate First Class · September 17, 1966
- DOMINGO ESCALANTE JRSpecialist Four · February 16, 1967
- ROBERT ANTHONY CHAPPSergeant · April 14, 1967
- RALPH JEAN TURCOTTELance Corporal · May 9, 1967
- RODGER LEE FORTUNESpecialist Four · May 26, 1967
- JOHN HARRY JOHNSONSergeant Major · July 12, 1967
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.