The Wall › Panel 41E › California › Richard Wayne McKenzie
RICHARD WAYNE MCKENZIE
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
January 16, 1949 – February 25, 1968
Service recordRichard Wayne McKenzie, of Oxnard, California, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 25, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 26
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Unit (as recorded)
- B CO 1 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- January 16, 1949
- Home of record
- Oxnard, California (Ventura County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 25, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
96 names on the Wall carry the date February 25, 1968; 32 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “B CO 1 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 3 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 41E, Line 26
- HENRY MCDONALD IIIPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- WILLIAM LESTER NEWSOMEPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- FRANK DENNIS ORTEGAPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- EARL EPHRAIM PARKERPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LLOYD WHITFIELD MOOREHospitalman · Panel 41E, Line 25
- DAVID CLIFTON SCARBROUGHPrivate First Class · Panel 41E, Line 28
From Oxnard
- ROSCOE HENRY FOBAIRLieutenant Colonel · July 24, 1965
- STEVE WILSON PAGEPrivate First Class · January 25, 1966
- JOHN PERRY GILLIAMPrivate First Class · February 26, 1966
- DENNIS JOHN BREDASecond Lieutenant · March 19, 1967
- OREN KENNETH MILLERSergeant · June 25, 1967
- CHARLES ALAN BALLAUFHospitalman · July 7, 1967
- LEONARD R LUDWIGSpecialist Four · August 12, 1967
- JAMES RYOICHIRO WATANABESergeant · September 26, 1967
- HARRY CARL SARSFIELDSpecialist Four · October 17, 1967
- MANUEL JOE RODRIGUEZSergeant · October 24, 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.