The Wall › Panel 37E › Maryland › Ernest Wesley Cole
ERNEST WESLEY COLE
Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps
January 3, 1943 – February 7, 1968
Service recordErnest Wesley Cole, of Silver Spring, Maryland, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 7, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 80 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 80
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
- Sergeant (SGT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Ground Radar Repairman (5931)
- Born
- January 3, 1943
- Home of record
- Silver Spring, Maryland (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 7, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
136 names on the Wall carry the date February 7, 1968; 42 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 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 37E, Line 80
- LAWRENCE CHAPLINPrivate · February 7, 1968
- PAUL FREDERICK CHARNETZKISergeant First Class · February 7, 1968
- ROBERT EDMUND COATESFirst Lieutenant · February 7, 1968
- JERRY LAMAYNE COLLIERPetty Officer Third Class · February 7, 1968
From Silver Spring
- WAYNE THOMAS LUNDELLSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- TERRY WINTERMOYERSpecialist Four · November 22, 1965
- JAMES EDWARD LOVELance Corporal · December 5, 1965
- JOHN MICHAEL BOWERSLance Corporal · March 21, 1966
- WILLIAM ARTHUR STACY JRCaptain · March 21, 1966
- RICHARD CLIFTON SMITHCorporal · April 6, 1966
- RALPH SIMONPrivate First Class · June 11, 1966
- WILLIAM JOSEPH BOEHMPrivate First Class · June 22, 1967
- ROBERT HATCHER SWAINPetty Officer Second Class · July 29, 1967
- WILLIAM ANTHONY WILKSecond Lieutenant · July 29, 1967
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.