The Wall › Panel 38E › Illinois › Cecil Lee Russell
CECIL LEE RUSSELL
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
December 13, 1946 – February 7, 1968
Service recordCecil Lee Russell, of Coal City, Illinois, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 7, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 13 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 13
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
- Bulk Fuel Specialist (1391)
- Born
- December 13, 1946
- Home of record
- Coal City, Illinois (Grundy County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 7, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
136 names on the Wall carry the date February 7, 1968; 24 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. 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 38E, Line 13
- NORMAN EARL ROSE IIICorporal · February 7, 1968
- PRESTON IVORY RUSSAWPrivate First Class · February 7, 1968
- DAVID AMON SANFORDSergeant First Class · February 7, 1968
- THEODORE SHINGLETON JRPrivate First Class · February 7, 1968
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.
