The Wall › Panel 37W › Michigan › Gary Russell Labohn
GARY RUSSELL LABOHN
Sergeant First Class · U.S. Army
December 28, 1942 – September 23, 1968
Service recordGary Russell Labohn, of Wixom, Michigan, served as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army. He was lost on September 23, 1968, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 37W, Line 13 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37W · Line 13
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Sergeant First Class (SFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Radio Operator (05B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- SPECIAL FORCES
- Born
- December 28, 1942
- Home of record
- Wixom, Michigan (Oakland County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- September 23, 1968
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
25 names on the Wall carry the date September 23, 1968. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 9 of its members that month.
He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.
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
Also on Panel 37W, Line 13
- MICHAEL HAMMOND MEINSergeant First Class · October 9, 1968
- DONALD CHESTER LEPAKSergeant · November 30, 1968
- LONNIE GENE MARTINSpecialist Four · November 30, 1968
- BRUCE JUN MORIPrivate First Class · November 30, 1968
From Wixom
- MICHAEL EDWARD SIDORSergeant · February 23, 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.