The Wall › Panel 40E › Michigan › Bobby Ray Hatfield
BOBBY RAY HATFIELD
Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
February 21, 1945 – February 19, 1968
Service recordBobby Ray Hatfield, of Detroit, Michigan, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 19, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 22 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 22
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
- Sergeant (SGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Engineer Equipment Operator (1345)
- Born
- February 21, 1945
- Home of record
- Detroit, Michigan (Wayne County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 19, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
93 names on the Wall carry the date February 19, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 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 40E, Line 22
- RONNIE HARRELLPrivate First Class · February 19, 1968
- WILLIAM WREN HOOKPrivate First Class · February 19, 1968
- KENNETH EUGENE HORNBAKERCorporal · February 19, 1968
- JOSEPH S SOBCZAK IISergeant · February 19, 1968
From Detroit
- SAMUEL EUGENE HURDAirman Third Class · January 3, 1964
- LEO BERT ABRAMOSKICaptain · July 28, 1964
- GEORGE PAUL ZUPANCICCorporal · June 26, 1965
- MARSHALL DANIEL HOLMANPrivate First Class · July 9, 1965
- ELIAS BELL JRCorporal · July 13, 1965
- ARTHUR F HAMMARSTROM JRLieutenant Colonel · July 24, 1965
- JAMES THOMAS CLARKPrivate · August 17, 1965
- BRUCE JAMES HENRICHPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- ROBERT TAGLIONESergeant · August 18, 1965
- MERRILL LAGENE LANTRYCorporal · September 2, 1965
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.