Six new names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Washington's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial lists Americans who died in the war

From CNN's Mike Ahlers

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The names of six American servicemen will be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington in a ceremony Thursday morning, bringing the total number of names to 58,226.

Names are occasionally added to the black granite wall as service members die from war-related injuries and illnesses or as past deaths are reclassified as war casualties.

In addition to the six name additions, the status of 28 servicemen currently designated as missing in action will be changed to indicate they were killed in action. A cross symbol denotes the person is missing in action; a diamond symbol denotes that the service member's death has been confirmed.

The six names being added to the wall are:

• Army Specialist 5th Class Billy Smith, Commerce, Texas, wounded in a firefight on Nov. 8, 1963. He was rescued and died of his injuries in 1995.
• Army Sgt. Wayne E. Benge, Sheffield Lake, Ohio, casualty date Sept. 23, 1966.
• Navy Lt (j.g.) Edward P. Cooper, Edinburg, Texas, casualty date Dec. 5, 1971.
• Army 1st Lt. Thomas C. Finn, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, casualty date Nov. 24, 1970.
• Army Specialist 4th Class Benjamin R. Montano, Tucson, Arizona, casualty date of May 23, 1969.
• Army Pvt. Chester R. Odom III, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, casualty date March 27, 1971.

On Nov. 8, 1963, Smith and another U.S. soldier, Williams Everhart, were on a mission to destroy Vietcong rice fields with nine South Vietnamese Rhade soldiers when they were fired on from a Vietcong jungle camp, according to an incident report.

The Rhade soldiers, thinking the Americans were dead, withdrew. Smith was later found by U.S. soldiers with a serious head wound. He had attempted to bandage himself and was clutching a grenade with the safety pin pulled.

Smith was lifted to safety by a helicopter. After he died in 1995, the Department of Defense determined that his death was directly attributable to wounds received in Vietnam. His name will be added to the wall 10 rows below that of Everhart, who died on that day in the rice field.

Among those expected to attend Thursday's ceremony, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EDT, is Billy Smith's brother, Michael.