The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Thomas J Murray.

The Wall › Panel 45E › New York › Thomas J Murray

THOMAS J MURRAY

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

March 31, 1945 – March 22, 1968

Service record

Thomas J Murray, of New York, New York, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 22, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 59 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 45E · Line 59

Position of Panel 45E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
March 31, 1945
Home of record
New York, New York (Kings County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 22, 1968
Age
22
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

43 names on the Wall carry the date March 22, 1968; three of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.

He died in Kon Tum Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

Also on Panel 45E, Line 59

Same unit, same day

From New York

All 1370 names from New York →

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.