The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967.
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, DASPO, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Grayson Jerald West.

The Wall › Panel 4E › Iowa › Grayson Jerald West

GRAYSON JERALD WEST

Sergeant First Class · U.S. Army

February 25, 1928 – December 16, 1965

Service record

Grayson Jerald West, of Webster City, Iowa, served as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on December 16, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 37. His name is inscribed on Panel 4E, Line 19 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 4E · Line 19

Position of Panel 4E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant First Class (SFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
SPECIAL FORCES
Born
February 25, 1928
Home of record
Webster City, Iowa (Hamilton County)

Casualty

Date of death
December 16, 1965
Age
37
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

Nine names on the Wall carry the date December 16, 1965. In December 1965, 326 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 4 of its members that month.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 4E, Line 19

From Webster City

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.