The Wall › Panel 17E › California › Monte Vernon Thomas
MONTE VERNON THOMAS
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Army
October 25, 1945 – March 21, 1967
Service recordMonte Vernon Thomas, of Alto, California, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 21, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 15 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 17E · Line 15
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
- Second Lieutenant (2LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 INF DIV
- Born
- October 25, 1945
- Home of record
- Alto, California (Marin County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 21, 1967
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
95 names on the Wall carry the date March 21, 1967; 35 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 35 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 17E, Line 15
- ALGERNON PAUL THOMASSpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- HAYZELL CALVIN TURNERSpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- LARRY LYMAN WARNOCKSpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- VINCENT RICHARD WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · March 21, 1967
Same unit, same day
- THOMAS MCCLURE ELLIOTTSpecialist Four · Panel 17E, Line 2
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.