The Wall › Panel 45E › Indiana › Robert Alan Martin
ROBERT ALAN MARTIN
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
May 31, 1949 – March 18, 1968
Service recordRobert Alan Martin, of Logansport, Indiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 18, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 25 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 25
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
- Machinegunner (0331)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 2 BN 4 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- May 31, 1949
- Home of record
- Logansport, Indiana (Cass County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 18, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
82 names on the Wall carry the date March 18, 1968; 23 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 unit recorded as “2 BN 4 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 2 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 45E, Line 25
- THEODORE MAZON JRSpecialist Four · March 18, 1968
- CARL LEE MERCHANTSergeant · March 18, 1968
- STEVEN LOUIS MESSERLISpecialist Four · March 18, 1968
- VIANE SOFENI MISAPrivate First Class · March 18, 1968
From Logansport
- ARTHUR LEROY JAMESStaff Sergeant · March 30, 1966
- FRANK R GALLAGHERPrivate First Class · August 20, 1966
- JAMES L HATTONSpecialist Four · October 9, 1966
- LAWRENCE CLARKChief Master Sergeant · October 18, 1966
- JAMES LEROY KISTLERSergeant · June 12, 1967
- THOMAS EUGENE PRIESTHOFFSergeant · December 16, 1967
- CHARLES B JILCOTT JRCaptain · March 8, 1968
- GERALD FREDERICK GILBERTSergeant · March 28, 1968
- REX MICHAEL HOOVERSpecialist Four · September 17, 1968
- BARRY WAYNE BICKELPrivate First Class · July 12, 1969
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.