The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun.
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Artillery prepare to fire a 175 mm gun. Photo: SP5 Kevin Malone, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Billy Joe Bennett.

The Wall › Panel 25E › Tennessee › Billy Joe Bennett

BILLY JOE BENNETT

Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps

January 19, 1948 – September 2, 1967

Service record

Billy Joe Bennett, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on September 2, 1967, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 25E, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 25E · Line 81

Position of Panel 25E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
January 19, 1948
Home of record
Chattanooga, Tennessee (Hamilton County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 2, 1967
Age
19
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

50 names on the Wall carry the date September 2, 1967; ten of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In September 1967, 929 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Con Thien was under way. Through September and October 1967, North Vietnamese artillery across the Demilitarized Zone pounded the Marine outpost at Con Thien and the bases along the DMZ in Quảng Trị Province. 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 25E, Line 81

From Chattanooga

All 73 names from Chattanooga →

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.