The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Jerry Dean Adams.

The Wall › Panel 39E › Indiana › Jerry Dean Adams

JERRY DEAN ADAMS

First Lieutenant · U.S. Army

January 5, 1945 – February 18, 1968

Service record

Jerry Dean Adams, of Franklin, Indiana, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 18, 1968, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 79 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 39E · Line 79

Position of Panel 39E 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
First Lieutenant (1LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Armored Reconnaissance Unit Commander (1204)
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
January 5, 1945
Home of record
Franklin, Indiana (Johnson County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 18, 1968
Age
23
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

85 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1968; two of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 61 of its members that month.

He died in Tây Ninh Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

Also on Panel 39E, Line 79

Same unit, same day

From Franklin

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.