The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Melvin Lynn Kirk.

The Wall › Panel 50E › California › Melvin Lynn Kirk

MELVIN LYNN KIRK

Sergeant · U.S. Army

December 12, 1945 – April 19, 1968

Service record

Melvin Lynn Kirk, of Clovis, California, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on April 19, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 50E, Line 48 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 50E · Line 48

Position of Panel 50E 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
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
December 12, 1945
Home of record
Clovis, California (Fresno County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 19, 1968
Age
22
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

67 names on the Wall carry the date April 19, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 189 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 50E, Line 48

Same unit, same day

From Clovis

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.