The Wall › Panel 35E › Virginia › Blake Wiley Farris JR
BLAKE WILEY FARRIS JR
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
July 6, 1943 – January 30, 1968
Service recordBlake Wiley Farris JR, of Saltville, Virginia, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 30, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 69 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 69
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)
- Born
- July 6, 1943
- Home of record
- Saltville, Virginia (Smyth County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 30, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
99 names on the Wall carry the date January 30, 1968; five of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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 35E, Line 69
- ANTHONY EDWIN ELLIOTTSpecialist Four · January 30, 1968
- ARTHUR FLOYD ELLIOTTPrivate · January 30, 1968
- DONALD ALLEN EVANSCaptain · January 30, 1968
- DONALD WILLIAM RICHARDSONPrivate First Class · January 30, 1968
From Saltville
- ROBERT KEITH WORLEYSergeant · February 13, 1966
- HERBERT ALANSON FRYEPetty Officer First Class · July 29, 1967
- TROY RAY HAYDENPrivate First Class · March 24, 1968
- GILES WARREN STALLARDPrivate First Class · October 6, 1968
- CHARLES ELBERT FINNEYMajor · March 17, 1969
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.