The Wall › Panel 38E › Texas › Thomas James Sparks
THOMAS JAMES SPARKS
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
March 13, 1949 – February 9, 1968
Service recordThomas James Sparks, of Groves, Texas, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 9, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 61 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 61
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
- Machinegunner (0331)
- Born
- March 13, 1949
- Home of record
- Groves, Texas (Jefferson County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 9, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
107 names on the Wall carry the date February 9, 1968; 12 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 38E, Line 61
- FREDERICK MILTON STEMENPrivate First Class · February 9, 1968
- HAROLD DEAN STOKESPrivate First Class · February 9, 1968
- JAMES PAUL STRAINPrivate First Class · February 9, 1968
- BENJAMIN JOHN TEREJKO JRSpecialist Four · February 9, 1968
From Groves
- JAMES JOHN HESSLERPrivate First Class · May 2, 1966
- WILLIAM WAYNE MOUTONSergeant · April 17, 1968
- JERRY MICHAEL DAILEYSergeant · June 5, 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.