The Wall › Panel 37E › California › Vernon Parr Smith
VERNON PARR SMITH
Seaman · U.S. Navy
January 17, 1947 – February 5, 1968
Service recordVernon Parr Smith, of Los Angeles, California, served as a Seaman in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 5, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 44
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
- Seaman (SN)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Seaman (SN)
- Born
- January 17, 1947
- Home of record
- Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 5, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
83 names on the Wall carry the date February 5, 1968; 26 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 37E, Line 44
- JAMES DALLAS SHELTONSergeant · February 5, 1968
- ALAN RAY SMITHPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
- ROBERT EUGENE SMITHPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
- ANTHONY JOSEPH SPIRITO JRPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
From Los Angeles
- JAMES WILLIAM MCNALLYTechnical Sergeant · October 23, 1963
- FRANK JOHN HOLGUINPrivate First Class · March 15, 1964
- RICHARD DEAN GOSSCaptain · August 29, 1964
- JOHN LOWERY MCCOYSergeant First Class · September 26, 1964
- JAMES HENRY MCLEANMaster Sergeant · February 9, 1965
- DWIGHT GLENN FRAKESChief Petty Officer · February 24, 1965
- AARON HAROLD WESTERNPrivate First Class · June 16, 1965
- EDWARD JAMES ANDERSPrivate First Class · June 18, 1965
- MAURICE RICHARD HILLPrivate · June 29, 1965
- WILLIAM WARREN HAILLieutenant Colonel · August 2, 1965
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.