Edwin Zeke Floyd

Youngest Lexingtonian Killed in Vietnam War
Only Lafayette alum to die in combat *
Tour began 14 Jun 1968
Killed on 11 Jul 1968

 

[ View Gravesite at Find A Grave ]
 

Kentuckians lost in Vietnam War: 1055
Average age: 23 yrs, 7 months : Youngest: 18 yrs, 1 month
Lexingtonians: Army: 31, Marines: 12, Air Force: 3, Navy: 1, Total = 47**
Lexington teens: 1 eighteen (Edwin Zeke Floyd), 8 nineteen
Kentuckians killed on their birthday: 3
Source: National Archives State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists for the Vietnam War
** The war memorial in Lexington lists three additional names:
   One from Donerail, KY and two whose official 'Home of Record' was not Kentucky (VA & WV).

WHAT IF?...
The first Draft Lottery was held on Dec 1, 1969.
Floyd's birthday, January 24, was drawn number 59.
The highest lottery number selected for induction during 1970 was 195.
Had he not volunteered for service, he would have almost certainly been drafted.
 
 
 
The memorial on the National Mall has a special ambiance
which is exquisitely captured in  "50,000 Names."
Sung by George Jones, and written by Jamie O'Hara,
whose own rendition is equally evocative.
The song is given the Bluegrass treatment in a cover by
Robin & Linda Williams of 'A Prairie Home Companion' fame.

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Craig Sliker died 4-Nov-2007 in Ohio
and is buried at Camp Nelson
 
* Two Lafayette alums died in Vietnam from non-combat causes:
James Russell Case died in 1970 by accidental drowning & Harry Thomas Walton was murdered in 1971 by a fellow soldier.
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