The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ray Lagrande Nelson.

The Wall › Panel 3E › Montana › Ray Lagrande Nelson

RAY LAGRANDE NELSON

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

January 27, 1944 – November 19, 1965

Service record

Ray Lagrande Nelson, of Stevensville, Montana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 19, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 3E, Line 101 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3E · Line 101

Position of Panel 3E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
January 27, 1944
Home of record
Stevensville, Montana (Ravalli County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 19, 1965
Age
21
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

Seven names on the Wall carry the date November 19, 1965. In November 1965, 545 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 3E, Line 101

Same unit, same day

From Stevensville

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.