The Wall › Panel 38E › California › Thomas Michael Pinatelli
THOMAS MICHAEL PINATELLI
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
June 13, 1948 – February 10, 1968
Service recordThomas Michael Pinatelli, of Hawthorne, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 10, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 71 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 71
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- June 13, 1948
- Home of record
- Hawthorne, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 10, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
54 names on the Wall carry the date February 10, 1968; seven 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 71
- CARL ELVING PETERSONColonel · February 10, 1968
- MICHAEL JOHN RAMBERGSergeant · February 10, 1968
- JOHN WAYNE ROWDENPrivate First Class · February 10, 1968
- DILLARD GALE RYEStaff Sergeant · February 10, 1968
From Hawthorne
- WILLIAM WALTE MCALLISTERMajor · April 22, 1965
- DONALD LEROY ANDERSON JRLance Corporal · September 18, 1966
- ROBERT CRAIG BOELZNERPrivate First Class · November 28, 1966
- THOMAS BLAKE DAILYFirst Lieutenant · May 21, 1967
- JAMES ALEX GAZDAGHLance Corporal · July 8, 1967
- PAUL EDWARD HAHNLance Corporal · August 23, 1967
- ORVAL L SKIRVINSergeant First Class · October 15, 1967
- TIM THOMASCorporal · February 13, 1968
- JAMES WALTER JONESCaptain · August 30, 1968
- DAYNE YORK SCOTTPetty Officer Second Class · October 17, 1968
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.