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 Louie Zapata Leija.

The Wall › Panel 23W › Texas › Louie Zapata Leija

LOUIE ZAPATA LEIJA

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

August 4, 1948 – May 29, 1969

Service record

Louie Zapata Leija, of Tulia, Texas, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 29, 1969, in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 23W, Line 16 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 23W · Line 16

Position of Panel 23W 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
11 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
August 4, 1948
Home of record
Tulia, Texas (Swisher County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 29, 1969
Age
20
Province
Quang Ngai
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

31 names on the Wall carry the date May 29, 1969; two of them were lost in Quảng Ngãi Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 11th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 60 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 23W, Line 16

Same unit, same day

From Tulia

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.