The Wall › Panel 24W › Mississippi › Kenneth Lavelle Smith
KENNETH LAVELLE SMITH
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
December 8, 1948 – May 22, 1969
Service recordKenneth Lavelle Smith, of Poplarville, Mississippi, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 22, 1969, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 79 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 79
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 Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- December 8, 1948
- Home of record
- Poplarville, Mississippi (Pearl River County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 22, 1969
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
36 names on the Wall carry the date May 22, 1969; three of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 76 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 24W, Line 79
- RICHARD DALE PICKETTPrivate First Class · May 22, 1969
- JEFFERY ALLEN RICHARDSONPrivate First Class · May 22, 1969
- PAUL EDWARD SPEAKSCorporal · May 22, 1969
- RANDY ALBERT STRICKLANDPrivate First Class · May 22, 1969
Same unit, same day
- STEVEN DUANE PAXSONSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 78
From Poplarville
- ROBERT FISHEL COCHRAN JRSecond Lieutenant · August 18, 1965
- AUDRON L SMITHPrivate First Class · June 2, 1968
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.