The Wall › Panel 2E › Michigan › Ollie Ray Cotten
OLLIE RAY COTTEN
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
January 27, 1946 – August 18, 1965
Service recordOllie Ray Cotten, of Sand Lake, Michigan, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 18, 1965, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 55 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2E · Line 55
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
- January 27, 1946
- Home of record
- Sand Lake, Michigan (Kent County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 18, 1965
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tin
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
48 names on the Wall carry the date August 18, 1965; 45 of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In August 1965, 179 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Tín Province while Operation Starlite was under way. Operation Starlite (18–24 August 1965), on the Van Tuong peninsula south of Chu Lai, was the first regimental-size U.S. ground battle of the war. Marines attacked the 1st Viet Cong Regiment by helicopter, amphibious landing and on foot. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 2E, Line 55
- JAMES ROY BROOKS JRLance Corporal · August 18, 1965
- ROBERT FISHEL COCHRAN JRSecond Lieutenant · August 18, 1965
- FRANCIS JOHN DUNC DELMARKLance Corporal · August 18, 1965
- RYLAND WHITNEY DRAWDYPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
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.