The Wall › Panel 42E › Illinois › Lawrence Leonard Gaska
LAWRENCE LEONARD GASKA
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
January 6, 1948 – March 3, 1968
Service recordLawrence Leonard Gaska, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 3, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 51
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
- Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewman (1833)
- Born
- January 6, 1948
- Home of record
- Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 3, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
65 names on the Wall carry the date March 3, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 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 42E, Line 51
- NORMAN ARCHIE FOSSETTCorporal · March 3, 1968
- FRANCISCO FRANCOSergeant · March 3, 1968
- JACKIE WAYNE GARNERPrivate · March 3, 1968
- RICHARD SAMUEL GINDERPrivate First Class · March 3, 1968
From Chicago
- MELVIN LESTER WATERSPrivate · February 10, 1965
- WILLIAM RALPH FUHRMANPetty Officer Third Class · April 23, 1965
- RAYMOND LEON HORNCorporal · May 1, 1965
- ARTHUR C JEPSON JRCaptain · May 16, 1965
- DONALD CLAY DEDMONStaff Sergeant · June 10, 1965
- ROGER PELIKANLance Corporal · July 17, 1965
- HARRY COHENTechnical Sergeant · July 19, 1969
- CURTIS LOCKHARTPrivate First Class · July 30, 1965
- EDWARD KOPECPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- JAMES LEO WHITELance Corporal · August 19, 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.