The Wall › Panel 39E › Arizona › Alvin Louis Raper
ALVIN LOUIS RAPER
Petty Officer Second Class · U.S. Navy
September 16, 1942 – February 15, 1968
Service recordAlvin Louis Raper, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, served as a Petty Officer Second Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 15, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 52 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 52
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer Second Class (PO2)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 BN 5 MAR 1 MARDIV
- Born
- September 16, 1942
- Home of record
- Sierra Vista, Arizona (Cochise County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 15, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
73 names on the Wall carry the date February 15, 1968; 17 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 39E, Line 52
- JOHN ROCCO PERRETTACorporal · February 15, 1968
- ANTHONY JOHN PODEBRADSKYSergeant · February 15, 1968
- GARRY REGINALD POWELLPrivate First Class · February 15, 1968
- EDWARD BEEDING QUILL JRMajor · February 15, 1968
From Sierra Vista
- DAVID JOSEPH CANALESPrivate First Class · May 22, 1966
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.