The Wall › Panel 17E › Illinois › Thomas Duane Utter
THOMAS DUANE UTTER
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Army
September 1, 1943 – March 23, 1967
Service recordThomas Duane Utter, of Hinsdale, Illinois, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 23, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 32 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 17E · Line 32
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
- Second Lieutenant (2LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- September 1, 1943
- Home of record
- Hinsdale, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 23, 1967
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
31 names on the Wall carry the date March 23, 1967; two of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 145 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault 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 17E, Line 32
- MICHAEL DOUGLAS SCHULTZPrivate First Class · March 23, 1967
- ELIJAH HENRY SMITHSergeant · March 23, 1967
- MAX PAUL STARKELCaptain · March 23, 1967
- JOHN STEPHEN SZYMANSKIStaff Sergeant · March 23, 1967
From Hinsdale
- LESTER WILLIAM WEBERLance Corporal · February 23, 1969
- TOM HABADASpecialist Four · November 30, 1969
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.