The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Kerry Laverne Vance.

The Wall › Panel 11W › Arizona › Kerry Laverne Vance

KERRY LAVERNE VANCE

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 6, 1950 – April 21, 1970

Service record

Kerry Laverne Vance, of Show Low, Arizona, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on April 21, 1970, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11W · Line 33

Position of Panel 11W 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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Equipment Repairer (91A)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
October 6, 1950
Home of record
Show Low, Arizona (Navajo County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 21, 1970
Age
19
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

23 names on the Wall carry the date April 21, 1970; five of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In April 1970, 730 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 108 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 11W, Line 33

Same unit, same day

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.