The Wall › Panel 36W › New Mexico › Thomas Franklin Smith
THOMAS FRANKLIN SMITH
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
May 21, 1943 – December 13, 1968
Service recordThomas Franklin Smith, of Roy, New Mexico, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on December 13, 1968, in Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 36W, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36W · Line 17
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
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AVN BDE
- Born
- May 21, 1943
- Home of record
- Roy, New Mexico (Harding County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- December 13, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Bien Hoa
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Other Accident
Context · from the records
What was happening
36 names on the Wall carry the date December 13, 1968; five of them were lost in Bien Hoa Province. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.
Also on Panel 36W, Line 17
- GILBERT STEVENS BELL JRSergeant · December 13, 1968
- WILLIE JAMES MCCLENDONSpecialist Four · December 13, 1968
- FRANCIS J MCGOULDRICK JRColonel · December 13, 1968
- EDDIE JOE NEELEYSpecialist Five · December 13, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT RANDY FREGIASpecialist Four · Panel 36W, Line 15
- ROY STOWESpecialist Four · Panel 36W, Line 19
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.