The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Donald Ray Trantham.

The Wall › Panel 62W › California › Donald Ray Trantham

DONALD RAY TRANTHAM

Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps

August 15, 1949 – May 31, 1968

Service record

Donald Ray Trantham, of Santa Clara, California, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on May 31, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 62W, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 62W · Line 18

Position of Panel 62W 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Lance Corporal (LCPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
August 15, 1949
Home of record
Santa Clara, California (Santa Clara County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 31, 1968
Age
18
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

79 names on the Wall carry the date May 31, 1968; 54 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Also on Panel 62W, Line 18

From Santa Clara

All 35 names from Santa Clara →

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.