The Wall › Panel 39E › Louisiana › Melvin Lewis Jones
MELVIN LEWIS JONES
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
October 6, 1949 – February 14, 1968
Service recordMelvin Lewis Jones, of Shreveport, Louisiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 14, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 34 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 34
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Unit (as recorded)
- K CO 3 BN 9 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- October 6, 1949
- Home of record
- Shreveport, Louisiana
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 14, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
71 names on the Wall carry the date February 14, 1968; 20 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 “K CO 3 BN 9 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 7 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 34
- DAVID GENE ISBELLFirst Lieutenant · February 14, 1968
- JERRY WAYNE JENKINSPrivate First Class · February 14, 1968
- WILLIAM CLARENCE JENKINSPrivate First Class · February 14, 1968
- DOHN WILLIAM JOHNSONSpecialist Four · February 14, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LOWELL THOMAS COMBSCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 30
- DENNIS K FLEMINGCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 32
- WILLIAM ROBERT REESESecond Lieutenant · Panel 39E, Line 38
- BARRY LANE RIGSBYPrivate First Class · Panel 39E, Line 38
- DAVID FRANCIS SCHNEIDERCorporal · Panel 39E, Line 39
- JEFFREY RAYMOND WENTZELLLance Corporal · Panel 39E, Line 41
From Shreveport
- DONALD FREDERICK DAVIDSONLance Corporal · October 8, 1963
- ROBERT LEE WOMACKStaff Sergeant · October 11, 1965
- WILLIAM WESLEY BROWNLance Corporal · March 4, 1966
- BILLY MARCUS EDWARDSSergeant · May 11, 1966
- THOMAS C GARRETT IIIPrivate · May 22, 1966
- BILLY RAY MOFFETTStaff Sergeant · May 27, 1966
- DAVID WILLIS TERRELLCorporal · July 4, 1966
- DALTON EARL JACKSONLance Corporal · October 17, 1966
- ALLAN EUGENE SMITHStaff Sergeant · October 17, 1966
- RAMON ALLEN COPPLELieutenant (junior grade) · October 26, 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.