The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Glenn David McElroy.

The Wall › Panel 16E › Illinois › Glenn David McElroy

GLENN DAVID MCELROY

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Army

June 9, 1930 – March 15, 1966

Service record

Glenn David McElroy, of Sidney, Illinois, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. He was lost on March 15, 1966, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 16E, Line 95 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16E · Line 95

Position of Panel 16E 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Fixed Wing Aviation Unit Commander (1980)
Unit (as recorded)
HQ MACV SD 5891
Born
June 9, 1930
Home of record
Sidney, Illinois (Champaign County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 15, 1966
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
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 March 15, 1966. In March 1966, 564 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “HQ MACV SD 5891”, his unit in the record, lost 2 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.

Also on Panel 16E, Line 95

Same unit, same day

From Sidney

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.