The Wall › Panel 44E › California › Benny Kumiyama Sanchez
BENNY KUMIYAMA SANCHEZ
Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
November 11, 1946 – March 11, 1968
Service recordBenny Kumiyama Sanchez, of Long Beach, California, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 11, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · 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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Field Artillery Cannoneer (0811)
- Unit (as recorded)
- W BTRY 2 BN 12 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- November 11, 1946
- Home of record
- Long Beach, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 11, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Other Accident
Context · from the records
What was happening
54 names on the Wall carry the date March 11, 1968; six 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 “W BTRY 2 BN 12 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 2 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 44E, Line 17
- OSCAR G GUTIERREZSpecialist Five · March 11, 1968
- WILLIS ROZELLE HALLTechnical Sergeant · March 11, 1968
- RALPH DEAN HIRSCHLER JRCorporal · March 11, 1968
- WILLIAM SPRAGGINS HUNTPrivate First Class · March 11, 1968
From Long Beach
- PETER ANTHONY SEMMERPrivate First Class · February 11, 1965
- RICHARD GRAHAM ALLENPrivate First Class · March 4, 1966
- IVAN JOSEPH BROYLESSergeant · April 21, 1966
- RICHARD EYRE CROWELance Corporal · May 29, 1966
- FRANZ GERHARD PREDIGERSpecialist Four · June 30, 1966
- ANTHONY ROBERT BOSHPrivate First Class · September 7, 1966
- GERALD JOHNSONPrivate First Class · November 15, 1966
- MICHAEL PAUL MCCONAHAYPrivate First Class · November 23, 1966
- EDMOND SANMARCOSPrivate First Class · December 19, 1966
- MARSHAL LYNN HORTONSpecialist Four · December 25, 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.
