The Wall › Panel 35E › Maine › Christopher John Toppi
CHRISTOPHER JOHN TOPPI
Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
July 7, 1949 – January 27, 1968
Service recordChristopher John Toppi, of South Portland, Maine, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 27, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 51
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- July 7, 1949
- Home of record
- South Portland, Maine (Cumberland County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 27, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
49 names on the Wall carry the date January 27, 1968; 30 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In January 1968, 1,546 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 35E, Line 51
- JOE CLARENCE SMITHSpecialist Four · January 27, 1968
- FRANK NELSON UZZELLPrivate · January 27, 1968
- RANDY NEAL WARDSpecialist Four · January 27, 1968
- DONALD EDMOND WEEDCorporal · January 27, 1968
From South Portland
- GEORGE ROBERT DARLINGSeaman · June 16, 1966
- DANIEL PAUL TUELLPrivate First Class · December 5, 1966
- JOHN WAYNE ROBERTSPrivate First Class · October 14, 1967
- ROBERT W TEWKSBURYCorporal · December 7, 1967
- WILLIAM GLEN FERGUSON JRCorporal · October 1, 1968
- JAMES ALEXANDER BAKASpecialist Four · April 18, 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.