The Wall › Panel 44E › Puerto Rico › Raul Pena-Class
RAUL PENA-CLASS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
January 5, 1948 – March 13, 1968
Service recordRaul Pena-Class, of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 13, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 40 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 40
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. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Unit Supply Specialist (76Y)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- January 5, 1948
- Home of record
- Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico (San Juan County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 13, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Other Accident
Context · from the records
What was happening
57 names on the Wall carry the date March 13, 1968; five of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 104 of its members that month.
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 40
- KENNETH WAYNE HAAKENSONPrivate First Class · March 13, 1968
- ANTONIO OROZCOPrivate First Class · March 13, 1968
- ARNOLD PAUL SARNASpecialist Four · March 13, 1968
- MICHAEL JON SCOTTSpecialist Four · March 13, 1968
Same unit, same day
- EUGENE GUBBINSSergeant First Class · Panel 44E, Line 36
- LARRY JAY MOOREPrivate First Class · Panel 44E, Line 38
- BOBBY DAN TUCKERPrivate First Class · Panel 44E, Line 42
- JIMMY LEE WATSONChief Warrant Officer 3 · Panel 44E, Line 42
From Rio Piedras
- LUIS RAFAEL JIMENEZStaff Sergeant · July 10, 1965
- ANTONIO BARBOSA-VILLAFANEPrivate First Class · February 4, 1966
- JORGE LUIS ISALES-BENITEZSpecialist Four · June 3, 1966
- CRISTOBAL MELENDEZSergeant First Class · September 29, 1966
- ULISES ORTIZ-COLONPrivate First Class · October 29, 1966
- JOSE LUIS FONTANEZ-VELEZPrivate · November 4, 1966
- LUDIN BERMUDEZ-QUINONESPrivate First Class · December 11, 1966
- ANTONIO HERNANDEZ-SOTOPrivate First Class · November 22, 1969
- AMALIO PAGAN-PAGANSpecialist Four · March 27, 1967
- JOSE LUIS MIRANDA-ORTIZStaff Sergeant · November 30, 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.