The Wall › Panel 37E › Kansas › Carl John Ornelas
CARL JOHN ORNELAS
Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
May 21, 1948 – February 5, 1968
Service recordCarl John Ornelas, of Wichita, Kansas, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 5, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 41
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
- Bulk Fuel Specialist (1391)
- Born
- May 21, 1948
- Home of record
- Wichita, Kansas (Sedgwick County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 5, 1968
- 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
83 names on the Wall carry the date February 5, 1968; 26 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 37E, Line 41
- JOHN ARTHUR MCINTOSHPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
- CLENZELL MORRISPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
- PAUL JUNIOR MYERSPrivate First Class · February 5, 1968
From Wichita
- RICHARD DEAN SMITHLieutenant Colonel · March 11, 1965
- GARY LYNN DICKEYLance Corporal · July 23, 1965
- LOUIS DON ROYSTON JRPrivate First Class · September 1, 1965
- REBEL LEE HOLCOMBSergeant · November 8, 1965
- HENRY GENTRY JRPrivate First Class · December 5, 1965
- DANIEL ALBERT DICKINSONSpecialist Four · December 6, 1965
- DONALD DEAN KARLINCorporal · December 18, 1965
- CHARLES RONALD GURTLERLance Corporal · April 21, 1966
- ROBERT GARY MALONECorporal · July 28, 1966
- JAMES EDWARD REIDPrivate First Class · August 26, 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.