Karl Wade Lawson, age 27, from Terre Haute, Indiana.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, April 9, 1968
Death details: Specialist 4 Karl Wade Lawson entered the U.S. Army from Indiana and was a member of Detachment B-36, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group. On April 9, 1968, while guarding a camp perimeter in the vicinity of grid coordinates YU 282 212 in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, SP4 Lawson was struck and killed by shrapnel from a 175mm artillery shell that fell short of its intended target. A helicopter extracted his body; however, following the extraction, SP4 Lawson’s body was dropped to the ground in the vicinity of grid coordinates YU 265 191. Searches were conducted but were unable to locate his body, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Specialist 4 Lawson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency