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 Mitchell William Stout.

The Wall › Panel 13W › North Carolina › Mitchell William Stout

Mitchell William Stout

MITCHELL WILLIAM STOUT

Sergeant · U.S. Army

February 24, 1950 – March 12, 1970

Medal of Honor Story

Portrait: U.S. armed forces, via Wikimedia Commons.

Mitchell William Stout, of Sanford, North Carolina, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 12, 1970, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 13W, Line 121 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Medal of Honor · awarded posthumously

For conspicuous gallantry

Mitchell William Stout received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, for his actions on March 12, 1970. The official citation reads:

Sergeant Stout's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

Sgt. Stout distinguished himself during an attack by a North Vietnamese Army Sapper company on his unit's firing position at Khe Gio Bridge. Sgt. Stout was in a bunker with members of a searchlight crew when the position came under heavy enemy mortar fire and ground attack. When the intensity of the mortar attack subsided, an enemy grenade was thrown into the bunker. Displaying great courage, Sgt. Stout ran to the grenade, picked it up, and started out of the bunker. As he reached the door, the grenade exploded. By holding the grenade close to his body and shielding its blast, he protected his fellow soldiers in the bunker from further injury or death. Sgt. Stout's conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the cost of his own life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the U.S. Army.

^ "Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients". Medal of Honor citations. United States Army Center of Military History. October 3, 2003. Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2007-06-12.

Citation text as reproduced in Wikipedia’s article on Mitchell William Stout; Medal of Honor citations are official U.S. government records. See also the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and all Medal of Honor recipients on the Wall.

On the Wall

Panel 13W · Line 121

Position of Panel 13W 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
Light Air Defense Artillery Crewmember (16F)
Unit (as recorded)
C BTRY 1 BN 44 ARTY I FF
Born
February 24, 1950
Home of record
Sanford, North Carolina (Lee County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 12, 1970
Age
20
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

34 names on the Wall carry the date March 12, 1970; three of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1970, 625 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “C BTRY 1 BN 44 ARTY I FF”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 13W, Line 121

Same unit, same day

From Sanford

All 17 names from Sanford →

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. The Medal of Honor citation above is the official account of his actions. See something wrong? Report a correction.