The Wall › Panel 24W › Maryland › William Lewis McGowan
WILLIAM LEWIS MCGOWAN
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
June 25, 1950 – May 14, 1969
Service recordWilliam Lewis McGowan, of Silver Spring, Maryland, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 14, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 24W, Line 9 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 24W · Line 9
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
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- June 25, 1950
- Home of record
- Silver Spring, Maryland (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 14, 1969
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
69 names on the Wall carry the date May 14, 1969; ten of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 24W, Line 9
- LESLIE LEROY MCCORKLECorporal · May 14, 1969
- JIMMY LEE MCLELLANSpecialist Four · May 14, 1969
- LUTHER MORGAN JRSergeant · May 14, 1969
- HENRY LAWRENCE OWENSSpecialist Four · May 14, 1969
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT ERIC BELTSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 2
- LEONARD BALDOMIR CASTILLOSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 2
- WILLIE JAMES CHAPMANSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 3
- RAYMOND WARREN DEMEOLASergeant · Panel 24W, Line 4
- WILLARD J DUFRESNE JRStaff Sergeant · Panel 24W, Line 4
- MICHAEL ALAN HUNTLEYSpecialist Four · Panel 24W, Line 7
- MICHAEL WAYNE MILNERCorporal · Panel 24W, Line 8
- LESLIE LEROY MCCORKLECorporal · Panel 24W, Line 9
- LUTHER MORGAN JRSergeant · Panel 24W, Line 9
- DAVID ALAN STIYERSpecialist Five · Panel 24W, Line 13
From Silver Spring
- WAYNE THOMAS LUNDELLSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- TERRY WINTERMOYERSpecialist Four · November 22, 1965
- JAMES EDWARD LOVELance Corporal · December 5, 1965
- JOHN MICHAEL BOWERSLance Corporal · March 21, 1966
- WILLIAM ARTHUR STACY JRCaptain · March 21, 1966
- RICHARD CLIFTON SMITHCorporal · April 6, 1966
- RALPH SIMONPrivate First Class · June 11, 1966
- WILLIAM JOSEPH BOEHMPrivate First Class · June 22, 1967
- ROBERT HATCHER SWAINPetty Officer Second Class · July 29, 1967
- WILLIAM ANTHONY WILKSecond Lieutenant · July 29, 1967
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.