The Wall › Panel 40E › Indiana › William Gary Smith
WILLIAM GARY SMITH
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
May 9, 1947 – February 21, 1968
Service recordWilliam Gary Smith, of Sellersburg, Indiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 21, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 56
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- May 9, 1947
- Home of record
- Sellersburg, Indiana (Clark County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 21, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
32 names on the Wall carry the date February 21, 1968; seven of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 40E, Line 56
- LENNIE HAROLD SCHARFFPrivate First Class · February 21, 1968
- CLIFFORD CHESTER SIMSStaff Sergeant · February 21, 1968
- PAUL PHILLIP SONSTEINSpecialist Four · February 21, 1968
- PAUL STASKO JRPrivate First Class · February 21, 1968
From Sellersburg
- WILLARD SKAGGS JRSergeant · March 2, 1968
- CAL THOMAS HAMMACKLance Corporal · January 29, 1969
- DAVID ROBERT BEYLSergeant · July 18, 1970
- THOMAS MARTIN BARNETTWarrant Officer 1 · September 26, 1970
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.