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 Eugene Smith.

The Wall › Panel 10W › Mississippi › William Eugene Smith

WILLIAM EUGENE SMITH

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

December 21, 1948 – May 26, 1970

Service record

William Eugene Smith, of Gautier, Mississippi, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 26, 1970, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 10W, Line 106 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 10W · Line 106

Position of Panel 10W 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.

See this name on the Wall

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.

Share a photo or memoryPhotos & remembrances on VVMF’s Wall of Faces ↗

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
December 21, 1948
Home of record
Gautier, Mississippi (Jackson County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 26, 1970
Age
21
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

31 names on the Wall carry the date May 26, 1970; he was the only one lost in Bình Dương Province that day. In May 1970, 917 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 80 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 10W, Line 106

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.