The Wall › Panel 39E › District of Columbia › Gerald Elliott Gordon
GERALD ELLIOTT GORDON
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
December 7, 1946 – February 16, 1968
Service recordGerald Elliott Gordon, of Washington, District of Columbia, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 16, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 57 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 57
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- December 7, 1946
- Home of record
- Washington, District of Columbia (District Of Columbia County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 16, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
61 names on the Wall carry the date February 16, 1968; 27 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 39E, Line 57
- CHARLES E ANDERSONSpecialist Four · February 16, 1968
- WILLIAM BONEYPrivate First Class · February 16, 1968
- ANTHONY LOUIS CAPOZZIPrivate First Class · February 16, 1968
- PAUL ANDREW JENSENFirst Lieutenant · February 16, 1968
From Washington
- HOMER CLEO MCINTYRE JRCaptain · July 28, 1964
- JAMES MARTIN CALEStaff Sergeant · May 16, 1965
- GEZA TEGLASSergeant · October 27, 1965
- LOUIS SHERRODSergeant · November 6, 1965
- LEROY HILLPlatoon Sergeant · November 8, 1965
- CALVIN BOUKNIGHTSpecialist Five · November 16, 1965
- PAUL EDWARD HURDLEStaff Sergeant · November 17, 1965
- THEODORE M BEAMONSpecialist Four · November 23, 1965
- HARRY RONALD HOSKINSONSpecialist Four · December 13, 1965
- WILLIE MITCHELL JRAirman First Class · December 20, 1965
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.