The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Shelley Slaughter.

The Wall › Panel 25W › Virginia › William Shelley Slaughter

WILLIAM SHELLEY SLAUGHTER

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

January 9, 1947 – May 11, 1969

Service record

William Shelley Slaughter, of Arlington, Virginia, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on May 11, 1969, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 25W, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 25W · Line 56

Position of Panel 25W 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
Specialist Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
General Vehicle Repairman (63C)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
January 9, 1947
Home of record
Arlington, Virginia (Arlington County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 11, 1969
Age
22
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

65 names on the Wall carry the date May 11, 1969; 15 of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 76 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 25W, Line 56

Same unit, same day

From Arlington

All 54 names from Arlington →

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.