Karl Wade Lawson

Karl Wade Lawson

Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Detachment B-36, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 21 May 1947
Home City of Record: Terre Haute IN
Date of Loss: 09 April 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 115641N 1070545E
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1123

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2020.

Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS:  On April 9, 1968, SP4 Lawson, a member of Detachment B36, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group was participating in a 2 phase operation in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam.  While guarding a portion of the perimeter, Lawson was struck and killed by shrapnel from an American 175mm artillery shell which fell short of its intended target.

A helicopter was called in to extract his body and the bodies of 1 indigenous soldiers.  Following the extraction, his body was dropped to the
ground in the general vicinity.  Three ground search parties were unable to relocate the body due to the density of the vegetation, foliage and hilly terrain.  Aerial searches were conducted for 2 days without success.  A sniffer mission was also flown, but there were no positive findings.