The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, move out on the first day of Operation Starlite, 18 August 1965.
Marines of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, move out on the first day of Operation Starlite, 18 August 1965. Photo: Sgt. Choate, USMC, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Donald Deloy Hansen.

The Wall › Panel 8E › Kentucky › Donald Deloy Hansen

DONALD DELOY HANSEN

Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps

August 8, 1946 – August 24, 1965

Service record

Donald Deloy Hansen, of Burgin, Kentucky, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 24, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 8E, Line 85 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 8E · Line 85

Position of Panel 8E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Lance Corporal (LCPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
August 8, 1946
Home of record
Burgin, Kentucky (Mercer County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 24, 1965
Age
19
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

61 names on the Wall carry the date August 24, 1965. In August 1965, 179 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in South Vietnam while Operation Starlite was under way. Operation Starlite (18–24 August 1965), on the Van Tuong peninsula south of Chu Lai, was the first regimental-size U.S. ground battle of the war. Marines attacked the 1st Viet Cong Regiment by helicopter, amphibious landing and on foot. The record gives the date and branch of service but not the exact place.

Also on Panel 8E, Line 85

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.