The Wall › Panel 39E › Connecticut › Melvin Hilton Sanders
MELVIN HILTON SANDERS
Private First Class · U.S. Army
April 16, 1949 – February 15, 1968
Service recordMelvin Hilton Sanders, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 15, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 53
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- April 16, 1949
- Home of record
- Bridgeport, Connecticut (Fairfield County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 15, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
73 names on the Wall carry the date February 15, 1968; ten 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 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 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 39E, Line 53
- RAMON SAUL RODRIGUEZPrivate First Class · February 15, 1968
- STEVAN ROY SARGENTSpecialist Four · February 15, 1968
- JIMMY LOUIS SILERPrivate First Class · February 15, 1968
- EURAL STANLEY JRPrivate First Class · February 15, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CHARLES LEE BAUGHCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 42
- ROBERT FRANCIS BRULTE JRSecond Lieutenant · Panel 39E, Line 43
- EMANUEL FERO BURROUGHSCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 43
- DAVID MANFRED CASHSergeant · Panel 39E, Line 43
- EARNEST PAUL HOLMES JRPrivate First Class · Panel 39E, Line 48
- HENRY MARSIAL TABETPrivate First Class · Panel 39E, Line 54
- WADE E THACKREY JRCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 54
From Bridgeport
- ISAIAH MULWEE JRPrivate First Class · February 23, 1966
- LESTER ROBERT ATHERDENLance Corporal · March 4, 1966
- ANTONINE GEORGE KOCIPERPrivate First Class · May 3, 1966
- JOSEPH WILLIAM AUBINChief Petty Officer · May 26, 1966
- GEORGE RICHARD FITZGERALDSecond Lieutenant · September 17, 1966
- FRANK DEBERNARDO JRChief Petty Officer · November 16, 1966
- WILLIAM D CARSONStaff Sergeant · December 25, 1966
- GEORGE EDWARD JONES JRTechnical Sergeant · January 25, 1967
- JOHN JAMES KATONA JRHospitalman · June 2, 1967
- FRANK RUDOLPH FROST IIISenior Chief Petty Officer · June 11, 1967
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.