The Wall › Panel 41E › California › Thomas Clay Wright
THOMAS CLAY WRIGHT
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
October 11, 1948 – February 27, 1968
Service recordThomas Clay Wright, of Torrance, California, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 27, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 57 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 57
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 Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- October 11, 1948
- Home of record
- Torrance, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 27, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
56 names on the Wall carry the date February 27, 1968; five of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle 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 41E, Line 57
- RICHARD DENNIS WELCHPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
- CHARLES EDWARD WILLIAMSSergeant · February 27, 1968
- THOMAS THAWSON WRIGHTColonel · February 27, 1968
- JAMES DOMINIO YOUNGHAMCorporal · February 27, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JIMMY MICHAEL TROLLINGERPrivate First Class · Panel 41E, Line 56
From Torrance
- WALLACE KENJI MATAYOSHISpecialist Four · January 30, 1966
- NORMAN BYRON WENSELConstructionman · January 4, 1967
- EDWARD JOSEPH ERNSTPrivate First Class · February 18, 1967
- MICHAEL BOYD CARTERLance Corporal · February 23, 1967
- PAUL WAYNE RATLIFFCorporal · May 19, 1967
- STEPHEN LEE GRANTLance Corporal · September 6, 1967
- LARRY KEITH WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · November 13, 1967
- CHARLES JOHN EISENACHERStaff Sergeant · February 6, 1968
- LARRY MUNOZCorporal · March 6, 1968
- JOSEPH WILLIAM MULLEN JRLance Corporal · April 17, 1968
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.