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 William Allen Peyton.

The Wall › Panel 11W › Illinois › William Allen Peyton

WILLIAM ALLEN PEYTON

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

December 14, 1947 – May 7, 1970

Service record

William Allen Peyton, of Shipman, Illinois, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on May 7, 1970, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 127 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11W · Line 127

Position of Panel 11W 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 Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
December 14, 1947
Home of record
Shipman, Illinois (Macoupin County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 7, 1970
Age
22
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

46 names on the Wall carry the date May 7, 1970; eight of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In May 1970, 917 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 62 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 11W, Line 127

Same unit, same day

From Shipman

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.