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 Hoyt Smith.

The Wall › Panel 27W › Alabama › William Hoyt Smith

WILLIAM HOYT SMITH

Private First Class · U.S. Army

October 15, 1948 – April 17, 1969

Service record

William Hoyt Smith, of Heflin, Alabama, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on April 17, 1969, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 27W, Line 103 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 27W · Line 103

Position of Panel 27W 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
199 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
October 15, 1948
Home of record
Heflin, Alabama (Cleburne County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 17, 1969
Age
20
Province
Gia Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

35 names on the Wall carry the date April 17, 1969; three of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In April 1969, 1,023 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 199th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 18 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 27W, Line 103

Same unit, same day

From Heflin

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.