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 James Warren Smith.

The Wall › Panel 47W › Texas › James Warren Smith

JAMES WARREN SMITH

Sergeant · U.S. Army

May 16, 1942 – August 23, 1968

Service record

James Warren Smith, of Houston, Texas, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on August 23, 1968, in Darlac Province, South Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 47W, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 47W · Line 53

Position of Panel 47W 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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
SPECIAL FORCES
Born
May 16, 1942
Home of record
Houston, Texas (Harris County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 23, 1968
Age
26
Province
Darlac
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

111 names on the Wall carry the date August 23, 1968; he was the only one lost in Darlac Province that day. In August 1968, 1,313 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 30 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 47W, Line 53

Same unit, same day

From Houston

All 358 names from Houston →

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.