The Wall › Panel 44E › Virginia › Ralph Levon Washington
RALPH LEVON WASHINGTON
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
August 31, 1947 – March 12, 1968
Service recordRalph Levon Washington, of Portsmouth, Virginia, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 12, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 32 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 32
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- August 31, 1947
- Home of record
- Portsmouth, Virginia (Portsmouth (City) County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 12, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date March 12, 1968; 21 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 44E, Line 32
- KENNETH MAURICE WATKINSLance Corporal · March 12, 1968
- EDGAR WILLIAM BLANKENSHIPSpecialist Four · March 13, 1968
- JAMES LOUIS BUCHYPrivate First Class · March 13, 1968
- LYTELL B CHRISTIANStaff Sergeant · March 13, 1968
From Portsmouth
- NORMAN ELLIOTT JRSpecialist Four · February 20, 1965
- RICHARD DALE BRODAPrivate First Class · November 20, 1965
- JESSE THOMAS BAILEY JRSergeant · February 2, 1966
- THOMAS HENRY RHODESPrivate First Class · February 12, 1966
- DONALD CHANDLER PIPERPrivate First Class · February 24, 1966
- MILTON LEE VAUGHANPrivate First Class · August 27, 1966
- WALTER WILLIAMS JRSergeant · September 25, 1966
- MELVIN LEON SHERRELLSpecialist Four · December 13, 1966
- FRANK EARLE HARDYLance Corporal · May 29, 1967
- FRED ALLAN KELLEYSpecialist Four · July 10, 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.
