The Wall › Panel 42E › Texas › Roger Allen Thompson
ROGER ALLEN THOMPSON
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
May 2, 1948 – March 1, 1968
Service recordRoger Allen Thompson, of Palestine, Texas, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 1, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 25 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · 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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewman (1833)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 AMTRACS 3 MARDIV
- Born
- May 2, 1948
- Home of record
- Palestine, Texas (Anderson County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 1, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
70 names on the Wall carry the date March 1, 1968; 30 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 “1 AMTRACS 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 42E, Line 25
- ANTHONY ODELL STRINGERPetty Officer Third Class · March 1, 1968
- STEVEN PAUL SWATEKHospitalman · March 1, 1968
- WALTER LEE THOMPSONPrivate First Class · March 1, 1968
- JOHN TILLMAN IIILance Corporal · March 1, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CHARLES FRANK DEUELPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 13
From Palestine
- THOMAS DARRELL WILLIAMSONSpecialist Four · January 29, 1966
- TONIE LEE ENGLAND JRCaptain · March 21, 1967
- EARL DAWSON LAWRENCEPrivate First Class · November 8, 1967
- AMON FRANKLIN MOORE JRPetty Officer Third Class · February 17, 1968
- DONALD RAY JOHNSONPrivate First Class · April 30, 1968
- JAMES TUCKER STOVALLSecond Lieutenant · November 7, 1968
- JAMES AUBREY HULSEYPrivate First Class · April 13, 1970
- JAMES CHRISTOPHER BECKERFirst Lieutenant · August 15, 1970
- TERRELL LEE RAWLINSONChief Warrant Officer 2 · August 25, 1970
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.