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Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Lawrence W Whitford JR.

The Wall › Panel 16W › Iowa › Lawrence W Whitford JR

LAWRENCE W WHITFORD JR

Colonel · U.S. Air Force

June 9, 1929 – November 2, 1969

Service record

Lawrence W Whitford JR, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on November 2, 1969, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 16W, Line 21 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16W · Line 21

Position of Panel 16W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Air Force
Rank
Colonel (COL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Pilot (1115B)
Unit (as recorded)
31 TFW
Born
June 9, 1929
Home of record
Cedar Falls, Iowa (Black Hawk County)

Casualty

Date of loss
November 2, 1969
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

27 names on the Wall carry the date November 2, 1969. In November 1969, 660 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “31 TFW”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 16W, Line 21

Same unit, same day

From Cedar Falls

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.