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 Robert Ray Boyd.

The Wall › Panel 20E › Tennessee › Robert Ray Boyd

ROBERT RAY BOYD

Captain · U.S. Army

April 21, 1941 – May 17, 1967

Service record

Robert Ray Boyd, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. He died on May 17, 1967, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 20E · Line 12

Position of Panel 20E 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
Captain (CPT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Parachutist, Fa Unit Commander (71193)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
April 21, 1941
Home of record
Murfreesboro, Tennessee (Rutherford County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 17, 1967
Age
26
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

39 names on the Wall carry the date May 17, 1967; eight of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In May 1967, 1,396 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 23 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 20E, Line 12

Same unit, same day

From Murfreesboro

All 13 names from Murfreesboro →

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.