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 Howard David Stephenson.

The Wall › Panel 2W › Massachusetts › Howard David Stephenson

HOWARD DAVID STEPHENSON

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force

October 6, 1937 – March 29, 1972

Service record

Howard David Stephenson, of Bolton, Massachusetts, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on March 29, 1972, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 2W, Line 123 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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Panel 2W · Line 123

Position of Panel 2W 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. Air Force
Rank
Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Electronic Warfare Officer (1575Z)
Unit (as recorded)
16 SOS 8 TFW
Born
October 6, 1937
Home of record
Bolton, Massachusetts (Worcester County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 29, 1972
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

18 names on the Wall carry the date March 29, 1972. In March 1972, 69 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “16 SOS 8 TFW”, his unit in the record, lost 5 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

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 2W, Line 123

Same unit, same day

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.