The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines move through the streets of Huế near the end of the 26-day battle, February 1968.
Marines move through the streets of Huế near the end of the 26-day battle, February 1968. Photo: USMC Archives, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert Edward Wright.

The Wall › Panel 38E › California › Robert Edward Wright

ROBERT EDWARD WRIGHT

Second Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps

July 16, 1945 – February 9, 1968

Service record

Robert Edward Wright, of Sacramento, California, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 9, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 63 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 38E · Line 63

Position of Panel 38E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Second Lieutenant (2NDLT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Infantry Officer (I) (0302)
Born
July 16, 1945
Home of record
Sacramento, California (Sacramento County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 9, 1968
Age
22
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

107 names on the Wall carry the date February 9, 1968; 21 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. 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 38E, Line 63

From Sacramento

All 146 names from Sacramento →

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.