The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Rodney Gardner Thornton.

The Wall › Panel 11E › Utah › Rodney Gardner Thornton

RODNEY GARDNER THORNTON

Sergeant · U.S. Marine Corps

January 19, 1941 – October 5, 1966

Service record

Rodney Gardner Thornton, of Salt Lake City, Utah, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on October 5, 1966, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 11E, Line 50 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11E · Line 50

Position of Panel 11E 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
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
January 19, 1941
Home of record
Salt Lake City, Utah (Salt Lake County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 5, 1966
Age
25
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

17 names on the Wall carry the date October 5, 1966; 11 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In October 1966, 516 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Also on Panel 11E, Line 50

From Salt Lake City

All 123 names from Salt Lake City →

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.