The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972.
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972. Photo: 1LT Stacy Stewart, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Jerry Duane Vance.

The Wall › Panel 1W › Indiana › Jerry Duane Vance

JERRY DUANE VANCE

Major · U.S. Air Force

August 9, 1934 – August 12, 1972

Service record

Jerry Duane Vance, of Richmond, Indiana, served as a Major in the U.S. Air Force. He died on August 12, 1972, in Ba Xugen Province, South Vietnam, at age 38. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 65 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 65

Position of Panel 1W 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. Air Force
Rank
Major (MAJ)
Service
Regular
Born
August 9, 1934
Home of record
Richmond, Indiana (Wayne County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 12, 1972
Age
38
Province
Ba Xugen
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

14 names on the Wall carry the date August 12, 1972; 13 of them were lost in Ba Xugen Province. In August 1972, 41 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Ba Xugen Province while the Easter Offensive was under way. On 30 March 1972, North Vietnam launched its largest offensive since 1968, attacking across the DMZ, toward An Lộc and into the Central Highlands. By then few U.S. ground troops remained; American advisers and air power fought alongside the South Vietnamese.

Also on Panel 1W, Line 65

From Richmond

All 30 names from Richmond →

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.