The Wall › Panel 47E › Alabama › Author C Smith
AUTHOR C SMITH
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
June 9, 1947 – March 30, 1968
Service recordAuthor C Smith, of Glen Allen, Alabama, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 30, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 47E · Line 17
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Unit (as recorded)
- B CO 1 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- June 9, 1947
- Home of record
- Glen Allen, Alabama (Fayette County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 30, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
58 names on the Wall carry the date March 30, 1968; 30 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “B CO 1 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 6 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 47E, Line 17
- DENNIS MICHAEL POTEATStaff Sergeant · March 30, 1968
- GERALD ANTHONY SCHIROCorporal · March 30, 1968
- CHARLES E SHAWSpecialist Four · March 30, 1968
- KENNETH ROMAINE TOTTEN JRPrivate First Class · March 30, 1968
Same unit, same day
- DAVID BRUCE ANDERSONPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 7
- JOSE RUIZ JRPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 16
- KENNETH ROMAINE TOTTEN JRPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 17
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.
