The Wall › Panel 20E › Alabama › Thomas Edwin Pettis
THOMAS EDWIN PETTIS
Lieutenant (junior grade) · U.S. Navy
October 31, 1941 – May 23, 1967
Service recordThomas Edwin Pettis, of Mobile, Alabama, served as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the U.S. Navy. He died on May 23, 1967, in North Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 91 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 20E · Line 91
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. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant (junior grade) (LTJG)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1315)
- Unit (as recorded)
- HS 2 USS HORNET CVS 12
- Born
- October 31, 1941
- Home of record
- Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 23, 1967
- Age
- 25
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
23 names on the Wall carry the date May 23, 1967. In May 1967, 1,396 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “HS 2 USS HORNET CVS 12”, his unit in the record, lost 4 of its members that month.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 20E, Line 91
- CLIFFORD EARL KELSEYPrivate First Class · May 23, 1967
- JOSEPH DEWARD KINGPrivate First Class · May 23, 1967
- CURTIS OWENS MATIERSpecialist Four · May 23, 1967
- TERRANCE WILLIAM NELSONWarrant Officer 1 · May 23, 1967
Same unit, same day
- RICHARD WENDAL HOMUTHLieutenant · Panel 20E, Line 90
- EUREKA LAVERN SCHMITTOUPetty Officer First Class · Panel 20E, Line 92
- RONALD PHILIP SOUCYPetty Officer First Class · Panel 20E, Line 92
From Mobile
- ANDREW C MITCHELL IIICaptain · April 8, 1963
- DAVID RUDOLPH DICKENSFirst Sergeant · November 1, 1965
- EDDIE LEE HILL JRCorporal · November 4, 1965
- SHERMAN ELDRIDGE OTISPrivate First Class · November 17, 1965
- NATHANIEL EARL CARTER IIISergeant · November 25, 1965
- ROBERT EDWARD BEXLEYPrivate First Class · January 30, 1966
- ROBERT LOUIS BEATONSergeant · February 22, 1966
- JOSEPH EMMETT LILLEYPrivate First Class · May 14, 1966
- JAMES DWIGHT NEWCOMBLance Corporal · July 17, 1966
- TIMOTHY SCOTT DAVIESLance Corporal · July 20, 1966
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.