The Wall › Panel 42E › New Jersey › Donald Baron Saunders
DONALD BARON SAUNDERS
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
February 17, 1948 – March 4, 1968
Service recordDonald Baron Saunders, of Belleville, New Jersey, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 71 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 71
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
- Cook (3371)
- Born
- February 17, 1948
- Home of record
- Belleville, New Jersey (Essex County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 4, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
75 names on the Wall carry the date March 4, 1968; 17 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 42E, Line 71
- EDWARD WALTER MILANSergeant · March 4, 1968
- ROBERTO PENA RIOSPrivate · March 4, 1968
- JEREMIAS ROMANPrivate First Class · March 4, 1968
- CAMILO JAMES SANCHEZSpecialist Four · March 4, 1968
From Belleville
- HELDER ARTHUR C DASILVASpecialist Four · February 7, 1966
- JOHN MICHAEL HOARPrivate First Class · February 13, 1966
- JERRY RICHARD DONATIELLOLance Corporal · November 20, 1967
- ROGER BRIAN CROWELLSpecialist Four · January 31, 1968
- FRANK ANTHONY CANCELLIERECorporal · March 15, 1969
- PAUL VINCENT NELSONCorporal · May 31, 1969
- WILLIAM ANDERSON BRANCHCaptain · June 6, 1970
- CARL LAWRENCE MICKENSCorporal · July 4, 1970
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.