The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Howard Smith.

The Wall › Panel 21W › Kentucky › James Howard Smith

JAMES HOWARD SMITH

Private First Class · U.S. Army

July 11, 1948 – July 14, 1969

Service record

James Howard Smith, of Leitchfield, Kentucky, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on July 14, 1969, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 21W, Line 117 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 21W · Line 117

Position of Panel 21W 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
July 11, 1948
Home of record
Leitchfield, Kentucky (Grayson County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 14, 1969
Age
21
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

39 names on the Wall carry the date July 14, 1969; two of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In July 1969, 834 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 64 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 21W, Line 117

Same unit, same day

From Leitchfield

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.