The Wall › Panel 54E › Indiana › Thomas Dean Clem
THOMAS DEAN CLEM
Captain · U.S. Marine Corps
May 31, 1942 – May 3, 1968
Service recordThomas Dean Clem, of New Paris, Indiana, served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was lost on May 3, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 54E, Line 24 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 54E · Line 24
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
- Captain (CAPT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Pilot Vma (Aw) (I), Frs Basic A-6 (7511)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VMA AW 533 MAG 12 1 MAW
- Born
- May 31, 1942
- Home of record
- New Paris, Indiana (Elkhart County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- May 3, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
39 names on the Wall carry the date May 3, 1968. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “VMA AW 533 MAG 12 1 MAW”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 54E, Line 24
- JESSE CARMONA JRCorporal · May 3, 1968
- ARTHUR FLETCHER CHANEYWarrant Officer 1 · May 3, 1968
- STEPHEN WILLIAM CLARKCaptain · May 3, 1968
- WALTER JAMES DANCERCorporal · May 3, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROBERT DOUGLAS AVERYCaptain · Panel 54E, Line 23
From New Paris
- JERRY M BORKHOLDERPrivate First Class · June 21, 1969
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.