The Wall › Panel 41E › Utah › Kyle J Coles
KYLE J COLES
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
February 5, 1947 – February 28, 1968
Service recordKyle J Coles, of Salt Lake City, Utah, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 28, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 61 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 61
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Logistics Operations Clerk (0441)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 3 MAF
- Born
- February 5, 1947
- Home of record
- Salt Lake City, Utah (Salt Lake County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 28, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
Context · from the records
What was happening
91 names on the Wall carry the date February 28, 1968; 29 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “3 MAF”, his unit in the record, lost 6 of its members that month.
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 41E, Line 61
- RONALD TERRY KRANSICorporal · February 27, 1968
- DENNIS PATRICK CLANCYPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
- JOHN STANFORD COLLIERPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
- KENNETH LYNN COOKSeaman · February 28, 1968
- HENRY ALBERT COONSCommander · February 28, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JOHN PATRICK ELLISCaptain · Panel 41E, Line 64
From Salt Lake City
- DONALD VERNON MCGREGORCaptain · August 13, 1963
- REED GEORGE JENSENMajor · July 28, 1964
- FRANCIS JOHN DUNC DELMARKLance Corporal · August 18, 1965
- DON RICHARD HOODCaptain · October 2, 1965
- WILLIAM LEE MILLERPrivate First Class · October 24, 1965
- ROBERT LEE STOKESSergeant · November 15, 1965
- ROBERT LEE CRAFTPrivate First Class · December 10, 1965
- RICHARD DENNIS PARKERSpecialist Four · January 30, 1966
- DAVID J BROADHEADPrivate First Class · February 7, 1966
- THOMAS GAVIN WALSTERLieutenant (junior grade) · April 9, 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.