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 Johnny Ray Burton.

The Wall › Panel 43E › Mississippi › Johnny Ray Burton

JOHNNY RAY BURTON

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

September 26, 1947 – March 9, 1968

Service record

Johnny Ray Burton, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 9, 1968, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 43E, Line 65 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 43E · Line 65

Position of Panel 43E 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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
196 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
September 26, 1947
Home of record
Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Forrest County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 9, 1968
Age
20
Province
Quang Tin
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

45 names on the Wall carry the date March 9, 1968; three of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 196th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 13 of its members that month.

He died in Quảng Tín 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 43E, Line 65

Same unit, same day

From Hattiesburg

All 13 names from Hattiesburg →

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.