The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Thomas Wayne Cummins.

The Wall › Panel 25W › California › Thomas Wayne Cummins

THOMAS WAYNE CUMMINS

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

September 11, 1948 – May 12, 1969

Service record

Thomas Wayne Cummins, of Marysville, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 12, 1969, in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 25W, Line 65 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 25W · Line 65

Position of Panel 25W 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
198 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
September 11, 1948
Home of record
Marysville, California (Yuba County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 12, 1969
Age
20
Province
Quang Ngai
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

170 names on the Wall carry the date May 12, 1969; 44 of them were lost in Quảng Ngãi Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 198th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 75 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 25W, Line 65

Same unit, same day

From Marysville

All 13 names from Marysville →

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.