The Wall › Panel 4E › Minnesota › William Stannard Forman
WILLIAM STANNARD FORMAN
Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy
November 8, 1936 – January 22, 1966
Service recordWilliam Stannard Forman, of Pipestone, Minnesota, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on January 22, 1966, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 4E, Line 82 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 4E · Line 82
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1310)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VS 35
- Born
- November 8, 1936
- Home of record
- Pipestone, Minnesota (Pipestone County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 22, 1966
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
Seven names on the Wall carry the date January 22, 1966. In January 1966, 401 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “VS 35”, his unit in the record, lost 4 of its members that month.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
Also on Panel 4E, Line 82
- PETER MARTINEZSergeant · January 21, 1966
- GERALD H GAYLORStaff Sergeant · January 22, 1966
- EDWIN RUSSELL GRISSETT JRSergeant · January 22, 1966
- PAUL STANLEY PRUSKOSpecialist Four · January 22, 1966
Same unit, same day
- EDMUND HENRY FRENYEAMaster Chief Petty Officer · Panel 4E, Line 83
- ROBERT RUSSELL SENNETTSenior Chief Petty Officer · Panel 4E, Line 83
- ERWIN BENARD TEMPLIN JRLieutenant Commander · Panel 4E, Line 83
From Pipestone
- MICHAEL VIRGIL PETERSONCorporal · January 27, 1968
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.