The Wall › Panel 45E › Ohio › Michael Hayward Ketch
MICHAEL HAYWARD KETCH
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
July 30, 1949 – March 20, 1968
Service recordMichael Hayward Ketch, of Dayton, Ohio, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 20, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 41
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
- Cook (3371)
- Born
- July 30, 1949
- Home of record
- Dayton, Ohio (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 20, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
41 names on the Wall carry the date March 20, 1968; three of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 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 45E, Line 41
- DAVID ALLEN MADDUXCorporal · March 20, 1968
- KENNETH DEE MOORESpecialist Four · March 20, 1968
- GREGORY FREDRICK MOSSFORDPrivate First Class · March 20, 1968
- WINCE ISAAC OVERTON JRSpecialist Four · March 20, 1968
From Dayton
- CHARLES ROBERT SMITHLance Corporal · May 23, 1965
- JOE CALVIN PAULLance Corporal · August 19, 1965
- RICHARD DENNIS SHARPLance Corporal · October 30, 1965
- RICHARD GALE WICKLance Corporal · November 22, 1965
- DONALD MAILY SHAFER IIPrivate First Class · February 18, 1966
- HARRY DONALD HASKINSPrivate First Class · April 29, 1966
- TIMOTHY RAYPrivate First Class · May 8, 1966
- ROGER MICHAEL MATHEWSONSergeant · May 11, 1966
- MICHAEL ROBERT POPPAWPrivate First Class · May 12, 1966
- DOUGLAS HUGH KNOTTPrivate First Class · July 19, 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.