The Wall › Panel 38E › South Carolina › Michael Murphy Sweeney
MICHAEL MURPHY SWEENEY
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
October 23, 1947 – February 11, 1968
Service recordMichael Murphy Sweeney, of Columbia, South Carolina, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 11, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 81
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
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- October 23, 1947
- Home of record
- Columbia, South Carolina (Richland County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 11, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
44 names on the Wall carry the date February 11, 1968; nine of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 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 38E, Line 81
- RICHARD LEE SORENSENPrivate First Class · February 11, 1968
- FRANK LOUIS STECPrivate First Class · February 11, 1968
- SAMUEL R STEWART IIICaptain · February 11, 1968
- JOHN ANTHONY SULLIVANPrivate First Class · February 11, 1968
From Columbia
- EARTHELL TYLERSergeant · November 17, 1965
- LUIS BELT R LOPEZPlatoon Sergeant · December 5, 1965
- EDDIE KENNETH WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · June 30, 1966
- THOMAS JASPER MAULDINStaff Sergeant · September 3, 1966
- CHARLES EDWARD MACMICHAELSergeant First Class · September 17, 1966
- RICHARD FLOYD WALTERSPrivate First Class · October 2, 1966
- CARROLL U THOMPSONCaptain · November 11, 1966
- DOUGLAS THOMAS JRAirman · August 4, 1966
- FORDHAM E FINCH JRPrivate First Class · January 13, 1967
- RICHARD BELTON BROCKMANCaptain · January 17, 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.