The Wall › Panel 40E › New Jersey › Thomas H Birch
THOMAS H BIRCH
Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
March 21, 1947 – February 23, 1968
Service recordThomas H Birch, of Keansburg, New Jersey, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 23, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 72 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 72
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- March 21, 1947
- Home of record
- Keansburg, New Jersey (Monmouth County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 23, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
56 names on the Wall carry the date February 23, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 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 40E, Line 72
- CHARLES J SABATIERSpecialist Four · February 3, 1968
- LARRY ADAMSSpecialist Four · February 23, 1968
- GUY ROBERT BEANPrivate First Class · February 23, 1968
- GOLA CALVIN BETLEYOUNPrivate First Class · February 23, 1968
- JAMES ROY BRYANTPrivate First Class · February 23, 1968
From Keansburg
- DENNIS JAMES MCCAULEYSpecialist Five · August 6, 1967
- DENNIS W KLEINSpecialist Four · March 6, 1968
- ALFRED BAUERFireman · January 16, 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.