Sykes, Derri
Army Staff sergeant

Derri Sykes, age 20, from Chicago, Illinois, Cook county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1968
Death details: On January 8, 1968, American troops from Company A and Company D of the 3rd Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, were ambushed by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. In addition to suffering several casualties, eight Americans were captured during the engagement. The following day on January 9, two more were captured as their units searched for the wounded and missing from the previous day’s action. Private First Class Derri Sykes entered the U.S. Army from Illinois and served in Company A, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. He was wounded during this ambush and then captured on January 9, 1968, and was last seen by other prisoners and believed to have died of his wounds while still in captivity. Attempts to locate his remains following the war were unsuccessful. Following the incident, the Army promoted PFC Sykes to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG). Today, Staff Sergeant Sykes is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency