The Wall › Panel 47E › Indiana › Ernest Larry Bridges
ERNEST LARRY BRIDGES
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
March 20, 1941 – April 4, 1968
Service recordErnest Larry Bridges, of Gary, Indiana, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on April 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 27. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 59 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 47E · Line 59
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
- Staff Sergeant (SSGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- March 20, 1941
- Home of record
- Gary, Indiana (Lake County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 4, 1968
- Age
- 27
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
73 names on the Wall carry the date April 4, 1968; 25 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 47E, Line 59
- LEON CHRIST BUEHLERPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
- MATTHEW JOSEPH BUONOPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
- JESSE CLARENCE BURROUGHPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
- RICHARD JOSEPH CALLStaff Sergeant · April 4, 1968
From Gary
- JOHN ROBERT ACKERMANPrivate First Class · November 16, 1965
- TOM WILLIE BROWNSergeant · December 4, 1965
- JACK ELSWORTH LOCKEPrivate First Class · January 27, 1966
- ROBERT LOPEZPrivate First Class · March 1, 1966
- JAMES LEE EMMARTPrivate First Class · June 20, 1966
- RICHARD WAYNE MCGEECorporal · July 1, 1966
- VICTOR MORALESPrivate First Class · August 1, 1966
- JOHN PETER SKORO JRFirst Lieutenant · September 13, 1966
- JOHN GREEN DICKERSON IIIPrivate · October 5, 1966
- ANDREW JAMES ROBERTSONPrivate First Class · November 2, 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.