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 Wilbur Eugene Smith JR.

The Wall › Panel 56E › South Carolina › Wilbur Eugene Smith JR

WILBUR EUGENE SMITH JR

Sergeant · U.S. Army

May 10, 1944 – May 6, 1968

Service record

Wilbur Eugene Smith JR, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 6, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 56E, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 56E · Line 17

Position of Panel 56E 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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Armor Reconnaissance Specialist (11D)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
May 10, 1944
Home of record
Spartanburg, South Carolina (Spartanburg County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 6, 1968
Age
23
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

102 names on the Wall carry the date May 6, 1968; eight of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 236 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 56E, Line 17

Same unit, same day

From Spartanburg

All 32 names from Spartanburg →

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.