The Wall › Panel 39E › California › Lester Edward Smart JR
LESTER EDWARD SMART JR
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
March 20, 1947 – February 13, 1968
Service recordLester Edward Smart JR, of King City, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 13, 1968, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 26
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
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 196 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- March 20, 1947
- Home of record
- King City, California (Monterey County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 13, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tin
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
60 names on the Wall carry the date February 13, 1968; two of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 196th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 40 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Tín 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 39E, Line 26
- JESSE LEE SMITHPrivate First Class · February 13, 1968
- KELLYNN VAL SNOWPrivate First Class · February 13, 1968
- FELIX SOSA-CAMEJOCaptain · February 13, 1968
- WAYNE JOHN SPARESergeant · February 13, 1968
Same unit, same day
- RONNIE LEE ADAMSSergeant · Panel 39E, Line 16
- KELLYNN VAL SNOWPrivate First Class · Panel 39E, Line 26
From King City
- EDDIE DISMAYA JRSpecialist Four · August 8, 1968
- RAYMOND FREDRICK EADESergeant · March 24, 1969
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.