The Wall › Panel 41E › Massachusetts › Donald Arthur Labonte
DONALD ARTHUR LABONTE
Hospitalman · U.S. Navy
March 9, 1944 – February 28, 1968
Service recordDonald Arthur Labonte, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, served as a Hospitalman in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 28, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 68 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 68
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
- Hospitalman (HN)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- HS CO 2 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- March 9, 1944
- Home of record
- Holyoke, Massachusetts (Hampden County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
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.
The unit recorded as “HS CO 2 BN 26 MAR 3 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 41E, Line 68
- CHARLES FRANKLIN KERRStaff Sergeant · February 28, 1968
- ROBERT WILLIAM LAUZONSpecialist Four · February 28, 1968
- JERRY DAY LEAKPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
- ROY RAYMOND MADDUX JRPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
From Holyoke
- LEONARD LEE KASTERFirst Lieutenant · August 6, 1964
- STANLEY P KIERZEKSpecialist Five · July 20, 1965
- ROBERT GEORGE BOUSQUETCorporal · August 18, 1965
- NEAL OLIN RICHEYStaff Sergeant · October 20, 1965
- DAVID LEE OWENSLance Corporal · October 5, 1966
- THOMAS MARTIN SEKLECKISpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- KENNETH RAYMOND BROWNPetty Officer Second Class · August 5, 1967
- GEORGE DONALD LACUS JRPrivate First Class · October 26, 1967
- VINCENT OWEN MCCANN JRCorporal · December 26, 1969
- CLAYTON KENNETH HOUGH JRLance Corporal · February 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.