The Wall › Panel 16E › California › Melvin Clyde Gaines
MELVIN CLYDE GAINES
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
July 28, 1938 – March 3, 1967
Service recordMelvin Clyde Gaines, of Los Angeles, California, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 3, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 28. His name is inscribed on Panel 16E, Line 10 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 16E · Line 10
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
- Staff Sergeant (SSG)
- Service
- Regular
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- July 28, 1938
- Home of record
- Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 3, 1967
- Age
- 28
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
46 names on the Wall carry the date March 3, 1967; 21 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 45 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. 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
On the Wall
Also on Panel 16E, Line 10
- MARTIN LEE FREEMANPrivate First Class · March 3, 1967
- EARL STANLEY GARRISONPrivate First Class · March 3, 1967
- RAYMOND RAY GOODWINLance Corporal · March 3, 1967
- MOSES GREENSpecialist Four · March 3, 1967
Same unit, same day
- STEVEN JACK ADAMSPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 6
- CHARLES BYRON ALANDTPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 6
- CHARLES HERMAN BENNETTPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 7
- WELBORN A CALLAHAN JRFirst Lieutenant · Panel 16E, Line 7
- CLYDE JOSEPH CAIRESPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 8
- PAUL WILLIAM CURRANPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 8
- MICHEAL JOHN DRAKEPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 9
- MICHAEL LEO EBALDPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 9
- EARL STANLEY GARRISONPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 10
- MOSES GREENSpecialist Four · Panel 16E, Line 10
- NORMAN A RENFROPrivate · Panel 16E, Line 12
- ANGEL PERFIR SAEZ-RAMIREZStaff Sergeant · Panel 16E, Line 13
- PETER JOHN SCHUTZSpecialist Four · Panel 16E, Line 13
- JAMES ARTHUR SKILESPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 13
- JOHN RAYMOND STALTERSergeant · Panel 16E, Line 14
- LAWRENCE STRACKPrivate · Panel 16E, Line 14
- SELVESTER JOE VASQUESPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 15
- HERBERT WILSON JRPrivate First Class · Panel 16E, Line 15
From Los Angeles
- JAMES WILLIAM MCNALLYTechnical Sergeant · October 23, 1963
- FRANK JOHN HOLGUINPrivate First Class · March 15, 1964
- RICHARD DEAN GOSSCaptain · August 29, 1964
- JOHN LOWERY MCCOYSergeant First Class · September 26, 1964
- JAMES HENRY MCLEANMaster Sergeant · February 9, 1965
- DWIGHT GLENN FRAKESChief Petty Officer · February 24, 1965
- AARON HAROLD WESTERNPrivate First Class · June 16, 1965
- EDWARD JAMES ANDERSPrivate First Class · June 18, 1965
- MAURICE RICHARD HILLPrivate · June 29, 1965
- WILLIAM WARREN HAILLieutenant Colonel · August 2, 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.