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 Rick Samuel Brown.

The Wall › Panel 5W › Arizona › Rick Samuel Brown

RICK SAMUEL BROWN

Sergeant · U.S. Army

February 7, 1949 – January 7, 1971

Service record

Rick Samuel Brown, of Mesa, Arizona, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on January 7, 1971, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 5W, Line 30 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5W · Line 30

Position of Panel 5W 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
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
February 7, 1949
Home of record
Mesa, Arizona (Maricopa County)

Casualty

Date of death
January 7, 1971
Age
21
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

14 names on the Wall carry the date January 7, 1971; six of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In January 1971, 259 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 17 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 5W, Line 30

Same unit, same day

From Mesa

All 23 names from Mesa →

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.