The Wall › Panel 40E › Louisiana › Bobby Ray Talton
BOBBY RAY TALTON
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
December 9, 1945 – February 20, 1968
Service recordBobby Ray Talton, of West Monroe, Louisiana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 20, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 48 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 48
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. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- December 9, 1945
- Home of record
- West Monroe, Louisiana
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 20, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
76 names on the Wall carry the date February 20, 1968; seven of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 168 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 40E, Line 48
- TERRY LEE SMITHCorporal · February 20, 1968
- SAM WILLIAM STEWARTPrivate First Class · February 20, 1968
- STEPHEN PAUL THUETCaptain · February 20, 1968
- PAUL RICHARD URBAN JRCorporal · February 20, 1968
Same unit, same day
- RAYMOND EARL CARPENTERSergeant · Panel 40E, Line 37
- TERRY Y OGAMICorporal · Panel 40E, Line 45
From West Monroe
- CARL DANIEL VIOLALance Corporal · May 30, 1966
- BUD AUGUSTINE GUILLORYPrivate · March 8, 1967
- JAMES WILLIAM HAMILTON JRPetty Officer Second Class · April 25, 1967
- VOMER OVID WILSON JRPrivate First Class · May 8, 1967
- STEPHEN RAY WORLEYPrivate First Class · October 14, 1967
- ROBERT IRVING BALLARDFirst Lieutenant · February 3, 1968
- CHARLIE EDWARD JENKINSSpecialist Four · July 21, 1968
- JOHN LESLIE BRATTONCorporal · November 11, 1968
- WILLIAM BENJAMIN EZELLLance Corporal · November 18, 1968
- JIMMY CARTERPrivate First Class · January 12, 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.