The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Willis Grant Uhls.

The Wall › Panel 5W › South Dakota › Willis Grant Uhls

WILLIS GRANT UHLS

Captain · U.S. Air Force

November 26, 1946 – February 11, 1971

Service record

Willis Grant Uhls, of Spearfish, South Dakota, served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He died on February 11, 1971, in Laos, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 5W, Line 98 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5W · Line 98

Position of Panel 5W 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. Air Force
Rank
Captain (CAPT)
Service
Regular
Born
November 26, 1946
Home of record
Spearfish, South Dakota (Lawrence County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 11, 1971
Age
24
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

20 names on the Wall carry the date February 11, 1971. In February 1971, 387 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Laos while Operation Lam Son 719 was under way. In Lam Son 719 (February–March 1971), South Vietnamese troops drove into Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, carried and supported by U.S. helicopters and aircraft; more than 100 U.S. helicopters were lost.

Also on Panel 5W, Line 98

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.