The Wall › Panel 41E › Alabama › Gilbert Swain Palmer JR
GILBERT SWAIN PALMER JR
Colonel · U.S. Air Force
October 12, 1930 – February 27, 1968
Service recordGilbert Swain Palmer JR, of Birmingham, Alabama, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on February 27, 1968, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 53
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. Air Force
- Rank
- Colonel (COL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Pilot (1323F)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 14 TRS
- Born
- October 12, 1930
- Home of record
- Birmingham, Alabama (Jefferson County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- February 27, 1968
- Country
- Laos
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- Aircraft
- RF-4C
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
56 names on the Wall carry the date February 27, 1968. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “14 TRS”, his unit in the record, lost 3 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
Also on Panel 41E, Line 53
- LARRY WYNN PETETTSecond Lieutenant · February 27, 1968
- ROBERT LAWRENCE POWERSPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
- FERNANDO MENDOZA QUINTEROSergeant First Class · February 27, 1968
- RODNEY ALLEN ROATPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
Same unit, same day
- THOMAS THAWSON WRIGHTColonel · Panel 41E, Line 57
From Birmingham
- SHERMAN ELLIOT WILLIAMSSpecialist Five · July 9, 1965
- CARL WILLIAM MANNPrivate First Class · September 21, 1965
- ROBERT WARREN ALLENPrivate First Class · October 3, 1965
- GENE WILLIAM WILLIAMSSpecialist Five · October 12, 1965
- JAMES J HOWARDSpecialist Five · November 1, 1965
- CLEO LOCKETTCorporal · November 8, 1965
- HAROLD JAMES BATTLEPrivate First Class · November 12, 1965
- HAROLD EUGENE WATKINSLance Corporal · November 12, 1965
- CHARLES WILLIAM STOREYStaff Sergeant · November 17, 1965
- RICHARD EARL HARPERSpecialist Four · January 12, 1966
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.