The Wall › Panel 35E › Alabama › Michael Douglas Cruitt
MICHAEL DOUGLAS CRUITT
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
June 23, 1947 – January 21, 1968
Service recordMichael Douglas Cruitt, of Cullman, Alabama, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 21, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 4
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Machinegunner (0331)
- Born
- June 23, 1947
- Home of record
- Cullman, Alabama (Cullman County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 21, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
42 names on the Wall carry the date January 21, 1968; 26 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In January 1968, 1,546 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 35E, Line 4
- PAUL REX COMBSSpecialist Four · January 21, 1968
- JOHN JENARO CONTRERASPrivate · January 21, 1968
- REECE A CRITCHFIELD JRPrivate First Class · January 21, 1968
- MICHAEL G DONOVAN IIISpecialist Four · January 21, 1968
From Cullman
- ROBERT BRANCH GLOVERSpecialist Four · December 31, 1966
- JIMMY EARL JOHNSONPrivate First Class · May 13, 1967
- JAMES WALTER BROCK IIIPrivate First Class · November 4, 1967
- RONALD DAVID LOVELADYCorporal · May 1, 1968
- WILLIAM OTTO SCHMALEMajor · August 23, 1968
- JAMES EDWARD DUCKWORTHSergeant · August 31, 1970
- DWAING USRY MCGIFFSergeant First Class · September 7, 1970
- RONALD HUGH HALLStaff Sergeant · June 30, 1971
- TERRY GUS KUGLERSergeant · November 28, 1971
- NEIL WADE JONESSpecialist Four · December 31, 1971
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.