The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John James Hughes.

The Wall › Panel 38E › New York › John James Hughes

JOHN JAMES HUGHES

Gunnery Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps

August 31, 1925 – February 7, 1968

Service record

John James Hughes, of New York, New York, served as a Gunnery Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 7, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 42. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 38E · Line 1

Position of Panel 38E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Gunnery Sergeant (GYSGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantry Unit Leader (0369)
Born
August 31, 1925
Home of record
New York, New York (Kings County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 7, 1968
Age
42
Province
Quang Nam
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

136 names on the Wall carry the date February 7, 1968; 24 of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Quảng Nam Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

Also on Panel 38E, Line 1

From New York

All 1370 names from New York →

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.