The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Lawrence Leon Smith.

The Wall › Panel 28W › West Virginia › Lawrence Leon Smith

LAWRENCE LEON SMITH

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 4, 1949 – March 22, 1969

Service record

Lawrence Leon Smith, of Walker, West Virginia, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 22, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 28W, Line 14 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 28W · Line 14

Position of Panel 28W 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
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
October 4, 1949
Home of record
Walker, West Virginia (Wood County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 22, 1969
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

46 names on the Wall carry the date March 22, 1969; four of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 71 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 28W, Line 14

Same unit, same day

From Walker

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.