The Wall › Panel 45E › Michigan › David Leroy Simmons
DAVID LEROY SIMMONS
Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
August 16, 1944 – March 16, 1968
Service recordDavid Leroy Simmons, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 16, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 6 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 6
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
- M60a1 Tank Crewman (1811)
- Born
- August 16, 1944
- Home of record
- Grand Rapids, Michigan (Kent County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 16, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
51 names on the Wall carry the date March 16, 1968; nine 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 45E, Line 6
- HOWARD BRUCE SMITHPrivate First Class · March 16, 1968
- KENNETH RAY WELLSPrivate First Class · March 16, 1968
- MICHEL T WHEELERCorporal · March 16, 1968
- BENJI YAMANESergeant · March 16, 1968
From Grand Rapids
- MILLARD RUSSELL VALERIUSCaptain · May 28, 1965
- ROBERT JEROME MORONEYCaptain · December 14, 1965
- HERMAN LEROY HUEYSergeant · February 7, 1966
- DONALD BRUCE ADAMSONSecond Lieutenant · February 23, 1966
- JERRY EMMET PARKSPrivate First Class · March 5, 1966
- DAVID ORIN BAILEYPrivate First Class · April 8, 1966
- GARY SCOTT FERGUSONPrivate First Class · August 3, 1966
- DAVID LAWRENCE FAUGHTPrivate First Class · August 10, 1966
- EVERETTE ARTHUR THOMPSONPrivate First Class · August 10, 1966
- MATTHEW GEORGE MIEDEMAPrivate First Class · August 25, 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.