The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun.
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun. Photo: SP5 Kevin Malone, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Thomas Witherspoon JR.

The Wall › Panel 27E › New York › Thomas Witherspoon JR

THOMAS WITHERSPOON JR

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

December 21, 1937 – October 8, 1967

Service record

Thomas Witherspoon JR, of New York, New York, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on October 8, 1967, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 29. His name is inscribed on Panel 27E, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 27E · Line 78

Position of Panel 27E 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
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
MACV ADVISORS
Born
December 21, 1937
Home of record
New York, New York (Kings County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 8, 1967
Age
29
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

57 names on the Wall carry the date October 8, 1967; he was the only one lost in Quảng Trị Province that day. In October 1967, 906 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 13 of its members that month.

He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Con Thien was under way. Through September and October 1967, North Vietnamese artillery across the Demilitarized Zone pounded the Marine outpost at Con Thien and the bases along the DMZ in Quảng Trị Province. 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 27E, Line 78

Same unit, same day

From New York

All 1370 names from New York →

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.