The Wall › Panel 11W › Virginia › Grady Rudolph Lester JR
GRADY RUDOLPH LESTER JR
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
February 3, 1949 – May 2, 1970
Service recordGrady Rudolph Lester JR, of Wicomico Church, Virginia, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 2, 1970, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 86 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 11W · Line 86
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
- Staff Sergeant (SSG)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- February 3, 1949
- Home of record
- Wicomico Church, Virginia (Northumberland County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 2, 1970
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Binh Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
36 names on the Wall carry the date May 2, 1970; two of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In May 1970, 917 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 30 of its members that month.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 11W, Line 86
- LANE FATUTOA LEVICorporal · May 2, 1970
- LEO JOHN LUDVIGSEN JRStaff Sergeant · May 2, 1970
- ROBERT RAY NEELSergeant · May 2, 1970
- DONALD LEE PARKERWarrant Officer 1 · May 2, 1970
Same unit, same day
- JOHN CALVIN SHERMANStaff Sergeant · Panel 11W, Line 88
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.