Rank: First Lieutenant
Unit: D Company, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 1203 – Tank Unit Commander
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Reserve
Date of birth: 17-Jan-1943
Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 7-May-1962
Start of tour: 23-Feb-1970
Incident date: 10-Mar-1970
Date of casualty: 10-Mar-1970
Age at death: 27
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Drowning. Drowned, suffocated.
Stuart Bassett Lamkin was killed while on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Platoon leader on reconnaissance mission. Engaged hostile force in firefight.
Four Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Phillip Allen Elliott
1LT Donald Woods Holman
1LT Stuart Bassett Lamkin
SGT Robert Michael Smith
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 387 587
Place of interment: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, Millcreek, Utah, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SECOND LIEUTENANT STUART BASSETT LAMKIN, ARMOR
10 MARCH 1970
D COMPANY, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Second Lieutenant Lamkin distinguished himself by heroism in connection with ground operations against a hostile force on 10 March 1970 while serving as a platoon leader with Company D, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date Lieutenant Lamkin led a platoon of reinforcements toward an enemy ambush. Moving into the area of thickest undergrowth, Lieutenant Lamkin encountered heavy enemy fire from small arms, automatic weapons, and rocket-propelled grenades. In spite of the heavy enemy fire, Lieutenant Lamkin continued to press forward into the enemy positions. Noticing that a nearby vehicle had become disabled, Lieutenant Lamkin interposed his own vehicle between the disabled vehicle and the enemy. As an enemy rocket exploded against his vehicle, engulfing it in flames, Lieutenant Lamkin jumped from the flaming tank and ran through the enemy fire to a position from which he could place accurate suppressive fire upon the hostile forces. Using his personal weapon, Lieutenant Lamkin put out an intense suppressive barrage, enabling the medics to evacuate the wounded from the stricken vehicles. Lieutenant Lamkin was then mortally wounded by hostile fire. Second Lieutenant Lamkin’s actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, II Field Force Vietnam General Orders No. 1733 (7 May 1970)