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 Wilton Neil Hatton.

The Wall › Panel 33W › Texas › Wilton Neil Hatton

WILTON NEIL HATTON

Master Sergeant · U.S. Air Force

December 7, 1932 – February 5, 1969

Service record

Wilton Neil Hatton, of Ft Worth, Texas, served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on February 5, 1969, in Laos, at age 36. His name is inscribed on Panel 33W, Line 64 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 33W · Line 64

Position of Panel 33W 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
Master Sergeant (MSGT)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
7 AF
Born
December 7, 1932
Home of record
Ft Worth, Texas (Tarrant County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 5, 1969
Age
36
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

50 names on the Wall carry the date February 5, 1969. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “7 AF”, his unit in the record, lost 11 of its members that month.

He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.

Also on Panel 33W, Line 64

Same unit, same day

From Ft Worth

All 168 names from Ft Worth →

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.