The Wall › Panel 44E › Oklahoma › Rudy York Chalakee
RUDY YORK CHALAKEE
Private · U.S. Marine Corps
December 29, 1947 – March 10, 1968
Service recordRudy York Chalakee, of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, served as a Private in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 10, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 4
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 (PVT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Wireman (2511)
- Born
- December 29, 1947
- Home of record
- Okmulgee, Oklahoma (Okmulgee County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 10, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Other Accident
Context · from the records
What was happening
46 names on the Wall carry the date March 10, 1968; ten of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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 44E, Line 4
- JAMES EDWARD WYATTStaff Sergeant · March 9, 1968
- BENJAMIN FRANCIS ALMAGUERPrivate First Class · March 10, 1968
- WALTER EVAN ANDERSON JRPrivate First Class · March 10, 1968
- RICHARD CRAIG BROWNSpecialist Five · March 10, 1968
From Okmulgee
- HERMAN HIRAM RITCHIECaptain · January 13, 1966
- JAMES PHILLIP MCELHANNONLance Corporal · April 6, 1966
- BILLY CHARLES JONESSpecialist Four · January 21, 1967
- RICHARD TARKINGTON JRSpecialist Four · February 16, 1967
- RUSSELL FORREST KECKCorporal · May 18, 1967
- PAUL ARTHUR BOGUSKISpecialist Four · June 19, 1968
- VENCEN ACKERSONSergeant First Class · March 4, 1969
- JIMMIE CHARLES SCROGUMSergeant · July 9, 1969
- MICHAEL SIDNEY MCNEILLAirman First Class · December 5, 1972
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.