The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967.
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967. Photo: PFC Franklin G. Nickerson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Wayne Michael Smith.

The Wall › Panel 55W › New York › Wayne Michael Smith

WAYNE MICHAEL SMITH

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

March 20, 1947 – June 25, 1968

Service record

Wayne Michael Smith, of Lake Pleasant, New York, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on June 25, 1968, in Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 55W, Line 39 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 55W · Line 39

Position of Panel 55W 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)
1 AVN BDE
Born
March 20, 1947
Home of record
Lake Pleasant, New York (Hamilton County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 25, 1968
Age
21
Province
Bien Hoa
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

39 names on the Wall carry the date June 25, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Bien Hoa Province. In June 1968, 1,257 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 45 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 55W, Line 39

Same unit, same day

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.