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 Melvin Ford.

The Wall › Panel 9E › Kentucky › Melvin Ford

MELVIN FORD

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 28, 1929 – July 23, 1966

Service record

Melvin Ford, of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on July 23, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 36. His name is inscribed on Panel 9E, Line 61 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 9E · Line 61

Position of Panel 9E 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
Armor Crewman (11E)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
October 28, 1929
Home of record
Tompkinsville, Kentucky (Monroe County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 23, 1966
Age
36
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

20 names on the Wall carry the date July 23, 1966. In July 1966, 562 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 93 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 9E, Line 61

Same unit, same day

From Tompkinsville

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.