The Wall › Panel 2E › Illinois › Donald Ray Wiest
DONALD RAY WIEST
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
October 28, 1943 – August 24, 1965
Service recordDonald Ray Wiest, of Cerro Gordo, Illinois, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 24, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 92 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2E · Line 92
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
- Freight Operations Clerk (3111)
- Born
- October 28, 1943
- Home of record
- Cerro Gordo, Illinois (Piatt County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 24, 1965
- Age
- 21
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
- Incident
- Airplane Crash Hong Kong To Danang Vs
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 2E, Line 92
- MANUEL FORTUNAT FERNANDEZPrivate First Class · September 21, 1965
- CARL WILLIAM MANNPrivate First Class · September 21, 1965
- RICHARD EDWARD WINGATEPrivate First Class · September 21, 1965
- GARY PAUL BLANDLance Corporal · September 22, 1965
From Cerro Gordo
- WILLIAM CARROLL HELMSpecialist Four · July 11, 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.