The Wall › Panel 40E › Oregon › Robert Lee Peterson
ROBERT LEE PETERSON
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
October 21, 1947 – February 18, 1968
Service recordRobert Lee Peterson, of Portland, Oregon, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 18, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 11 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 11
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
- Assaultman (0351)
- Born
- October 21, 1947
- Home of record
- Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 18, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
85 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1968; 19 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 40E, Line 11
- CARL LOUIS LJUNGPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
- JOHN ALTON NEVELSSpecialist Four · February 18, 1968
- ROBERT VIRGIL NOWAKSergeant · February 18, 1968
- LEONARD MORRIS PHIPPSSpecialist Four · February 18, 1968
From Portland
- RICHARD DALE BENZELSergeant First Class · December 6, 1962
- GEORGE WILLIAM WATSONSpecialist Five · December 18, 1963
- HAROLD JAMES ROBERTS JRMaster Sergeant · June 18, 1965
- TYRRELL GORDON LOWRYCaptain · June 18, 1965
- WILLIAM JOHN LAGRANDChief Warrant Officer 2 · September 5, 1965
- LARRY ALAN LINDSEYPrivate First Class · September 6, 1965
- DONALD WALTER LOVETTSpecialist Four · December 8, 1965
- DAVID JOHN BYSTEDTLance Corporal · January 11, 1966
- RAYMOND EARL BROWNLance Corporal · January 12, 1966
- JAMES LEE GARDNERCorporal · February 2, 1966
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.