The Wall › Panel 41E › Pennsylvania › Ronald Lee Kustaborder
RONALD LEE KUSTABORDER
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
November 16, 1948 – February 25, 1968
Service recordRonald Lee Kustaborder, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 25, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 23 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 23
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
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- November 16, 1948
- Home of record
- Altoona, Pennsylvania (Blair County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 25, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
96 names on the Wall carry the date February 25, 1968; nine 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 41E, Line 23
- EDWARD KASNOWSpecialist Four · February 25, 1968
- LARRY WILLIAM KRAFTPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- MICHAEL JOHN LADEROUTELance Corporal · February 25, 1968
- DENNIS EUGENE LANECorporal · February 25, 1968
From Altoona
- JOSEPH WILLIAM SCHUSTERCorporal · June 1, 1966
- ALFRED JAMES KIBLERLance Corporal · October 6, 1966
- DENNIS M SPAHNSpecialist Four · December 28, 1966
- WILLIAM JOEL RICKMANPrivate First Class · April 3, 1967
- EDWARD PHILIP SZEYLLERLieutenant · April 4, 1967
- JAMES EDWARD CAREYLance Corporal · April 21, 1967
- ROBERT CARL DAMBECKMaster Sergeant · July 7, 1967
- NICHOLAS CHARLES BIANCONICorporal · July 24, 1967
- GEAN PRESTON CLAPPERChief Master Sergeant · December 29, 1967
- SHELDON D SCHULTZChief Warrant Officer 3 · January 5, 1968
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.