The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Andrew Fitch.

The Wall › Panel 18W › Kentucky › William Andrew Fitch

WILLIAM ANDREW FITCH

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

September 23, 1947 – September 17, 1969

Service record

William Andrew Fitch, of Fitch, Kentucky, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on September 17, 1969, in Long An Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 18W, Line 102 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 18W · Line 102

Position of Panel 18W 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded)
9 INF DIV
Born
September 23, 1947
Home of record
Fitch, Kentucky (Carter County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 17, 1969
Age
21
Province
Long An
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

42 names on the Wall carry the date September 17, 1969; 13 of them were lost in Long An Province. In September 1969, 664 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 19 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 18W, Line 102

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.