The Wall › Panel 14E › Alabama › Merritt Stoves III
MERRITT STOVES III
Private First Class · U.S. Army
January 10, 1948 – January 10, 1967
Service recordMerritt Stoves III, of North Birmingham, Alabama, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on January 10, 1967, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 7 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 14E · Line 7
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
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- January 10, 1948
- Home of record
- North Birmingham, Alabama (Jefferson County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 10, 1967
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
21 names on the Wall carry the date January 10, 1967; ten of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 18 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Dương Province while Operation Cedar Falls was under way. Operation Cedar Falls (8–26 January 1967) sent some 30,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into the “Iron Triangle” northwest of Saigon to destroy Viet Cong base areas and tunnels. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
Also on Panel 14E, Line 7
- THADDEUS E WILLIAMS JRCaptain · January 9, 1966
- THOMAS RICHARD SIEBENSergeant · January 10, 1967
- HENRY JAMES STUCKEYPrivate First Class · January 10, 1967
- MORRIS CRAIG WHEELERLance Corporal · January 10, 1967
- FUIFUITAUA AMISONEStaff Sergeant · January 21, 1967
Same unit, same day
- WILLIE DONALD JONESSpecialist Four · Panel 14E, Line 6
From North Birmingham
- SAMUEL ARLEN EIDSONStaff Sergeant · November 8, 1965
- ROBERT TILLERSpecialist Five · January 25, 1966
- JERRY WAYNE KIZZIAHSpecialist Four · January 10, 1968
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.