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 Michael Joseph Compton.

The Wall › Panel 10E › Minnesota › Michael Joseph Compton

MICHAEL JOSEPH COMPTON

Private First Class · U.S. Army

January 2, 1946 – August 20, 1966

Service record

Michael Joseph Compton, of Lake Crystal, Minnesota, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on August 20, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 10E, Line 20 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 10E · Line 20

Position of Panel 10E 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Field Artillery Basic (13A)
Unit (as recorded)
196 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
January 2, 1946
Home of record
Lake Crystal, Minnesota (Blue Earth County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 20, 1966
Age
20
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

17 names on the Wall carry the date August 20, 1966. In August 1966, 501 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 196th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 10E, Line 20

Same unit, same day

From Lake Crystal

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.