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 Lonnie Williams.

The Wall › Panel 38W › Illinois › Lonnie Williams

LONNIE WILLIAMS

Private First Class · U.S. Army

September 8, 1948 – November 27, 1968

Service record

Lonnie Williams, of Rockford, Illinois, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on November 27, 1968, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 38W, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 38W · Line 81

Position of Panel 38W 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Medical Equipment Repairer (91A)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
September 8, 1948
Home of record
Rockford, Illinois (Winnebago County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 27, 1968
Age
20
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

61 names on the Wall carry the date November 27, 1968; 33 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 96 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 38W, Line 81

Same unit, same day

From Rockford

All 52 names from Rockford →

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.