The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Leland Herbert Thompson.

The Wall › Panel 20E › Oregon › Leland Herbert Thompson

LELAND HERBERT THOMPSON

Sergeant · U.S. Army

July 14, 1945 – May 18, 1967

Service record

Leland Herbert Thompson, of Portland, Oregon, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 18, 1967, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 37 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 20E · Line 37

Position of Panel 20E 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
Cannon Fire Direction Specialist (13E)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
July 14, 1945
Home of record
Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 18, 1967
Age
21
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

94 names on the Wall carry the date May 18, 1967; 28 of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In May 1967, 1,396 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 117 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 20E, Line 37

Same unit, same day

From Portland

All 183 names from Portland →

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.