The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Arthur Smith JR.

The Wall › Panel 42W › Michigan › William Arthur Smith JR

WILLIAM ARTHUR SMITH JR

Chief Warrant Officer 2 · U.S. Army

June 24, 1945 – September 27, 1968

Service record

William Arthur Smith JR, of Battle Creek, Michigan, served as a Chief Warrant Officer 2 in the U.S. Army. He was lost on September 27, 1968, in Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 42W, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 42W · Line 33

Position of Panel 42W 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
Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Helicopter Pilot, Utility And Light Cargo Single Rotor (062B)
Unit (as recorded)
9 INF DIV
Born
June 24, 1945
Home of record
Battle Creek, Michigan (Calhoun County)

Casualty

Date of loss
September 27, 1968
Province
Kien Hoa
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action

Context · from the records

What was happening

43 names on the Wall carry the date September 27, 1968; four of them were lost in Kien Hoa Province. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 9th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 79 of its members that month.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 42W, Line 33

Same unit, same day

From Battle Creek

All 29 names from Battle Creek →

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.