The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun.
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun. Photo: SP5 Kevin Malone, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Jay Balfour.

The Wall › Panel 26E › Iowa › William Jay Balfour

WILLIAM JAY BALFOUR

Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps

April 7, 1945 – September 21, 1967

Service record

William Jay Balfour, of Toledo, Iowa, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on September 21, 1967, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 26E, Line 109 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 26E · Line 109

Position of Panel 26E 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. Marine Corps
Rank
Corporal (CPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
April 7, 1945
Home of record
Toledo, Iowa (Tama County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 21, 1967
Age
22
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

61 names on the Wall carry the date September 21, 1967; 44 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In September 1967, 929 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Con Thien was under way. Through September and October 1967, North Vietnamese artillery across the Demilitarized Zone pounded the Marine outpost at Con Thien and the bases along the DMZ in Quảng Trị Province. 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 26E, Line 109

From Toledo

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.