The Wall › Panel 41E › California › David Zavala Balades
DAVID ZAVALA BALADES
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
October 20, 1947 – February 28, 1968
Service recordDavid Zavala Balades, of Oxnard, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 28, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 58
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
- Engineer Equipment Mechanic (1341)
- Born
- October 20, 1947
- Home of record
- Oxnard, California (Ventura County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 20
- 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 58
- RICHARD CHARLES ADAMOSeaman · February 28, 1968
- FRANK TISNERO ALDAYStaff Sergeant · February 28, 1968
- ARCHIE ANDERSONPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
- JAMES FREDERICK BAUCOMCorporal · February 28, 1968
From Oxnard
- ROSCOE HENRY FOBAIRLieutenant Colonel · July 24, 1965
- STEVE WILSON PAGEPrivate First Class · January 25, 1966
- JOHN PERRY GILLIAMPrivate First Class · February 26, 1966
- DENNIS JOHN BREDASecond Lieutenant · March 19, 1967
- OREN KENNETH MILLERSergeant · June 25, 1967
- CHARLES ALAN BALLAUFHospitalman · July 7, 1967
- LEONARD R LUDWIGSpecialist Four · August 12, 1967
- JAMES RYOICHIRO WATANABESergeant · September 26, 1967
- HARRY CARL SARSFIELDSpecialist Four · October 17, 1967
- MANUEL JOE RODRIGUEZSergeant · October 24, 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.