The Wall › Panel 41E › Massachusetts › Charles Edward Parsons
CHARLES EDWARD PARSONS
Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
September 17, 1946 – February 28, 1968
Service recordCharles Edward Parsons, of Springfield, Massachusetts, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 28, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 70 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 70
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
- Communication Center Operator (2542)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 5 COMM BN 3 MF
- Born
- September 17, 1946
- Home of record
- Springfield, Massachusetts (Hampden County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
91 names on the Wall carry the date February 28, 1968; 29 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 41E, Line 70
- MARC WAYNE MCCABESergeant · February 28, 1968
- GARY WILLIAM PAINTERPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
- JUANITO PEREASpecialist Six · February 28, 1968
- DALLIS PERRYMANTechnical Sergeant · February 28, 1968
From Springfield
- WAYNE CARL SIMMONSSpecialist Five · April 1, 1965
- JAMES STEPHEN COCCHIARAPrivate First Class · March 4, 1966
- WILLIAM HADLEY SCHOLESSergeant · April 21, 1966
- RALPH GABRIEL ERDELYLance Corporal · May 12, 1966
- ROBERT NAZAIRE TETREAULTStaff Sergeant · July 9, 1966
- DONALD CONSTANDEGunnery Sergeant · August 12, 1966
- NORMAN CARL FARRISSpecialist Four · November 21, 1966
- RALPH EARLE HINESCaptain · February 19, 1967
- WALTER JOSEPH FITZPATRICKSergeant First Class · March 3, 1967
- GUS STOVALL JRPrivate · March 9, 1967
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.