The Wall › Panel 42W › South Carolina › John Clifford Smith III
JOHN CLIFFORD SMITH III
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
September 21, 1945 – September 26, 1968
Service recordJohn Clifford Smith III, of Pacolet, South Carolina, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on September 26, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 42W, Line 23 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42W · Line 23
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
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Combat Engineer (12B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- September 21, 1945
- Home of record
- Pacolet, South Carolina (Spartanburg County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- September 26, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Hua Nghia
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
55 names on the Wall carry the date September 26, 1968; he was the only one lost in Hua Nghia Province that day. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 80 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 42W, Line 23
- CHARLES RODNEY SLUSSERFirst Lieutenant · September 26, 1968
- GEORGE JOHN SMITH JRPrivate First Class · September 26, 1968
- JOHN WELFRED STAHLLance Corporal · September 26, 1968
- JOHN WAYNE STATESStaff Sergeant · September 26, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JAMES ROBERT HEARD JRPrivate First Class · Panel 42W, Line 18
From Pacolet
- MELVIN LEESpecialist Four · April 6, 1969
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.