The Wall › Panel 2E › Tennessee › Walter Lewis Smith
WALTER LEWIS SMITH
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
August 1, 1946 – August 19, 1965
Service recordWalter Lewis Smith, of Memphis, Tennessee, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 19, 1965, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 63 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2E · Line 63
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- August 1, 1946
- Home of record
- Memphis, Tennessee (Shelby County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 19, 1965
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tin
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
Four names on the Wall carry the date August 19, 1965; four of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In August 1965, 179 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Tín Province while Operation Starlite was under way. Operation Starlite (18–24 August 1965), on the Van Tuong peninsula south of Chu Lai, was the first regimental-size U.S. ground battle of the war. Marines attacked the 1st Viet Cong Regiment by helicopter, amphibious landing and on foot. 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 2E, Line 63
- WESLIE DAVID MEWBORNPetty Officer First Class · September 8, 1964
- BRUCE DOUGLAS WEBBCaptain · August 18, 1965
- WILLIAM NEIL WILSONPrivate · August 18, 1965
- JAMES LEO DIERYCKCorporal · August 19, 1965
- JOE CALVIN PAULLance Corporal · August 19, 1965
From Memphis
- JESSE ALEXANDER GRAYSergeant First Class · June 12, 1964
- ANDREW DAYTON PARKER JRMajor · June 18, 1965
- JOHN CARLOS HARRISSergeant · July 21, 1965
- CLAUDE TALBERT JRPrivate First Class · October 8, 1965
- WILLIAM CLYDE HARPERSergeant · October 10, 1965
- DANIEL DAVID HARDENSergeant · November 1, 1965
- RANDLE TOM WOODSLance Corporal · November 6, 1965
- KELLY EUGENE WHITAKERPrivate First Class · November 8, 1965
- MELVIN FRANK FORTSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- JERRY ALLAN HIEMERSpecialist Four · November 17, 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.