The Wall › Panel 42E › Missouri › Kenneth Ray Stephenson
KENNETH RAY STEPHENSON
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
February 21, 1943 – February 29, 1968
Service recordKenneth Ray Stephenson, of Marceline, Missouri, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 29, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 10 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 10
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 INF DIV
- Born
- February 21, 1943
- Home of record
- Marceline, Missouri (Multiple County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 29, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Quang Nam
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
52 names on the Wall carry the date February 29, 1968; seven of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 125 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Nam 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 42E, Line 10
- JERROLD PATRICK SMITHPrivate First Class · February 29, 1968
- EDGAR CLAY SPENCESergeant · February 29, 1968
- SAMUEL KAY STEWARTPrivate First Class · February 29, 1968
- GILBERT THIBEAULTPrivate First Class · February 29, 1968
Same unit, same day
- RORY A COVINGTONSpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 3
- JOHN DAVID LOCKW DUFFIELDPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 4
- HARRY IVAN FUQUA JRPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 5
- JEFFERY GURVITZFirst Lieutenant · Panel 42E, Line 8
- RICHARD ALAN RANDOLPHPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 9
- MAURICE LEO SIROISSergeant · Panel 42E, Line 9
- LARRY JOHN WALTERMANPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 11
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.