The Wall › Panel 48E › Texas › Donald John Matocha
DONALD JOHN MATOCHA
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps
January 31, 1945 – April 5, 1968
Service recordDonald John Matocha, of Smithville, Texas, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on April 5, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 48E, Line 15 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 48E · Line 15
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
- Second Lieutenant (2NDLT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantry Officer (I) (0302)
- Unit (as recorded)
- D CO 3 RECON BN 3 MARDIV
- Born
- January 31, 1945
- Home of record
- Smithville, Texas (Bastrop County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 5, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
42 names on the Wall carry the date April 5, 1968; seven of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 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 48E, Line 15
- ANDREW ZBIGNIEW BUCIORCorporal · April 5, 1968
- JOHN FRANK CANDELASPrivate First Class · April 5, 1968
- JAMES ANTHONY CARDINALEHospitalman · April 5, 1968
- PATRICK J CONROYSergeant · April 5, 1968
From Smithville
- DONNELL PHILLIPSSpecialist Four · November 15, 1965
- RICHARD EARL DABNEY JRPrivate First Class · June 3, 1966
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.