The Wall › Panel 46E › California › Dennis Edward Chester
DENNIS EDWARD CHESTER
Petty Officer Third Class · U.S. Navy
June 23, 1944 – March 27, 1968
Service recordDennis Edward Chester, of Fair Oaks, California, served as a Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on March 27, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 46E, Line 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 46E · Line 44
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. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer Third Class (PO3)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 BN 5 MAR 1 MARDIV
- Born
- June 23, 1944
- Home of record
- Fair Oaks, California (Multiple County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 27, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date March 27, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “1 BN 5 MAR 1 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
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 46E, Line 44
- JOHN HOWARD BARNESSergeant · March 27, 1968
- THOMAS EUGENE BIXBYPrivate First Class · March 27, 1968
- WILLIAM EUGENE CARROLLPrivate First Class · March 27, 1968
- ROBERT JOHN FRISKSergeant · March 27, 1968
From Fair Oaks
- LAWRENCE ALAN BRITTENCaptain · March 30, 1966
- JOHN RICHARD HUMPHREYCaptain · November 26, 1966
- ALGER EDGAR DURELL JRSpecialist Four · April 6, 1967
- RANDALL BRIAN RAINVILLEPrivate First Class · April 23, 1967
- KENNETH DALE STRAINAirman · July 29, 1967
- DAVID LLOYD WIGHTMAN IIISpecialist Four · August 3, 1967
- DENNIS KARL SHOWERSSpecialist Four · March 25, 1968
- CLIO C FEATHERSTON JRSpecialist Four · February 18, 1969
- JOHN CARL GUENTHER JRSergeant · June 29, 1969
- STEPHEN DOUGLAS MOOREFirst Lieutenant · August 22, 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.