The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970.
Troopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, watch a UH-1D land, March 1970. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Richard Louis Lanctot.

The Wall › Panel 31W › Rhode Island › Richard Louis Lanctot

RICHARD LOUIS LANCTOT

Sergeant · U.S. Army

July 10, 1949 – February 25, 1969

Service record

Richard Louis Lanctot, of Providence, Rhode Island, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 25, 1969, in Phu Yen Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 31W, Line 52 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 31W · Line 52

Position of Panel 31W 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
Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
July 10, 1949
Home of record
Providence, Rhode Island (Providence County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 25, 1969
Age
19
Province
Phu Yen
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

106 names on the Wall carry the date February 25, 1969; six of them were lost in Phu Yen Province. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 31W, Line 52

Same unit, same day

From Providence

All 45 names from Providence →

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.