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 Marvin James Plata.

The Wall › Panel 36E › Florida › Marvin James Plata

MARVIN JAMES PLATA

Master Sergeant · U.S. Army

July 9, 1935 – January 31, 1968

Service record

Marvin James Plata, of Miami, Florida, served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on January 31, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 32. His name is inscribed on Panel 36E, Line 30 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 36E · Line 30

Position of Panel 36E 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
Master Sergeant (MSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
MACV ADVISORS
Born
July 9, 1935
Home of record
Miami, Florida (Dade County)

Casualty

Date of death
January 31, 1968
Age
32
Province
Hua Nghia
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

246 names on the Wall carry the date January 31, 1968; three of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 38 of its members that month.

He died in Hua Nghia 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 36E, Line 30

Same unit, same day

From Miami

All 179 names from Miami →

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.