The Wall › Panel 33W › Illinois › Donald Eugene Parsons
DONALD EUGENE PARSONS
Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Army
April 17, 1929 – February 6, 1969
Service recordDonald Eugene Parsons, of Sparta, Illinois, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. He was lost on February 6, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 33W, Line 73 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 33W · Line 73
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. Army
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel (LTC)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Tank Unit Commander (1203)
- Unit (as recorded)
- MACV ADVISORS
- Born
- April 17, 1929
- Home of record
- Sparta, Illinois (Randolph County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- February 6, 1969
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Presumed Dead
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
- First reported
- Missing
Context · from the records
What was happening
24 names on the Wall carry the date February 6, 1969; seven of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 19 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while Operation Dewey Canyon was under way. In Operation Dewey Canyon (22 January–18 March 1969) the 9th Marines struck North Vietnamese base areas in the Đa Krông and A Shau valleys, the last major Marine offensive 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.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
Also on Panel 33W, Line 73
- DAVID EUGENE PADGETTMajor · February 6, 1969
- DAVID WAYNE PARKERSergeant · February 6, 1969
- MISTER REDDIX JRPrivate First Class · February 6, 1969
- WILLIAM BOYD REEDYSpecialist Four · February 6, 1969
Same unit, same day
- RONALD DANIEL BRIGGSCaptain · Panel 33W, Line 70
From Sparta
- TERRY LEE DOUGLASPrivate · July 28, 1968
- ROBERT JOE BOWLINSergeant · January 7, 1969
- ROGER DALE PARTINGTONCaptain · November 1, 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.