The Wall › Panel 42E › California › Mark Edward Smith
MARK EDWARD SMITH
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
August 10, 1949 – March 2, 1968
Service recordMark Edward Smith, of Lake View Terrace, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 2, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 41
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. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Heavy Anti-Armor Weapons Infantryman (11H)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- August 10, 1949
- Home of record
- Lake View Terrace, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 2, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
100 names on the Wall carry the date March 2, 1968; ten of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 208 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 42E, Line 41
- THOMAS JAMES SCULLENPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- ERWIN BRUCE SIMSPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- WILLARD SKAGGS JRSergeant · March 2, 1968
- RONALD ALLEN SLANESpecialist Five · March 2, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CARL VAL ANDREStaff Sergeant · Panel 42E, Line 27
- EARL FREDERICK FITCHCorporal · Panel 42E, Line 31
- FLOYD HEGLER JRSergeant First Class · Panel 42E, Line 33
- WILLIE LEE MCGAUGHEYPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 37
- PETER SIMMONS REINHARTCaptain · Panel 42E, Line 39
From Lake View Terrace
- JASPER DEAN STURDIVANTSecond Lieutenant · July 3, 1966
- STEVEN PATRICK STEELESpecialist Five · April 20, 1970
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.