The Wall › Panel 36E › Wisconsin › Donald Alan Kirkham
DONALD ALAN KIRKHAM
Hospitalman · U.S. Navy
October 7, 1945 – February 1, 1968
Service recordDonald Alan Kirkham, of Brookfield, Wisconsin, served as a Hospitalman in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 1, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 36E, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36E · Line 53
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Hospitalman (HN)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- G CO 2 BN 5 MAR
- Born
- October 7, 1945
- Home of record
- Brookfield, Wisconsin (Waukesha County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 1, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
96 names on the Wall carry the date February 1, 1968; 31 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 36E, Line 53
- GENE LUTHER KEAHIPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- MICHAEL YATES KEETERPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- NORTON ZIGMUND KINGPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- KENNETH EDWARD KUSPIELSpecialist Four · February 1, 1968
From Brookfield
- WILLIAM ROBERT GLUECKSTEINHospitalman · January 29, 1966
- JAMES BRIAN HUDISLieutenant (junior grade) · October 26, 1966
- HOWARD V MATSON JRLance Corporal · December 4, 1966
- ROBERT JAMES MANNSpecialist Four · January 8, 1967
- THOMAS ARTHUR GERGPrivate First Class · January 12, 1967
- JOHN PAUL VISPrivate First Class · September 18, 1967
- RICHARD WILLIAM STEINSpecialist Four · October 26, 1967
- WILLIAM EDWIN PIERSONLance Corporal · December 15, 1967
- JAMES GEORGE ZEIMETWarrant Officer 1 · September 4, 1968
- LANCE ALLEN ROBINSONCorporal · March 23, 1971
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.