The Wall › Panel 42E › District of Columbia › David Lawrence Melton
DAVID LAWRENCE MELTON
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
August 16, 1948 – March 2, 1968
Service recordDavid Lawrence Melton, of Washington, District of Columbia, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 2, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 36 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 36
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Machinegunner (0331)
- Born
- August 16, 1948
- Home of record
- Washington, District of Columbia (District Of Columbia County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 2, 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
100 names on the Wall carry the date March 2, 1968; 14 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 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 42E, Line 36
- ROBERT WAYNE LUECKEFirst Lieutenant · March 2, 1968
- JAMES RUFUS MATHISPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- ROY ALAN MEIERPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- CHARLES EDWARD MELOTTPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
From Washington
- HOMER CLEO MCINTYRE JRCaptain · July 28, 1964
- JAMES MARTIN CALEStaff Sergeant · May 16, 1965
- GEZA TEGLASSergeant · October 27, 1965
- LOUIS SHERRODSergeant · November 6, 1965
- LEROY HILLPlatoon Sergeant · November 8, 1965
- CALVIN BOUKNIGHTSpecialist Five · November 16, 1965
- PAUL EDWARD HURDLEStaff Sergeant · November 17, 1965
- THEODORE M BEAMONSpecialist Four · November 23, 1965
- HARRY RONALD HOSKINSONSpecialist Four · December 13, 1965
- WILLIE MITCHELL JRAirman First Class · December 20, 1965
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.