The Wall › Panel 35E › California › Gilbert Ayala JR
GILBERT AYALA JR
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
November 4, 1948 – January 24, 1968
Service recordGilbert Ayala JR, of Fresno, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 24, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 19 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 19
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
- November 4, 1948
- Home of record
- Fresno, California (Fresno County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 24, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
46 names on the Wall carry the date January 24, 1968; 19 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In January 1968, 1,546 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 35E, Line 19
- GEORGE MONROE MOORESergeant First Class · January 23, 1968
- CLIFFORD JAMES VOLKE IISergeant · January 23, 1968
- LEROY JOSEPH YOUNGStaff Sergeant · January 23, 1968
- DAVID CHARLES AUGEPrivate First Class · January 24, 1968
From Fresno
- FRANK DUVALL WILLIAMSSpecialist Five · December 11, 1964
- HENRY THOMAS LUNAPrivate First Class · November 17, 1965
- CARL MICHAEL HUMESpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- DANNY JAY MCGRIFFPrivate First Class · February 28, 1966
- MICHAEL B MAULDINPrivate First Class · May 17, 1966
- DONALD THEODORE ERICKSONStaff Sergeant · August 2, 1966
- JOE MAGDALENO BALLIN JRLance Corporal · September 16, 1966
- MANUEL AVILA JRPetty Officer Third Class · November 12, 1966
- VICENTE ZUNIGASpecialist Four · December 21, 1966
- MICHAEL R BROWNPrivate First Class · December 29, 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.