The Wall › Panel 35E › California › Thomas Rickard Pearson JR
THOMAS RICKARD PEARSON JR
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps
June 20, 1945 – January 23, 1968
Service recordThomas Rickard Pearson JR, of San Diego, California, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 23, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 17
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
- Second Lieutenant (2NDLT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Basic Infantry Officer (0301)
- Born
- June 20, 1945
- Home of record
- San Diego, California (San Diego County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 23, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
32 names on the Wall carry the date January 23, 1968; he was the only one lost in Quảng Trị Province that day. In January 1968, 1,546 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 35E, Line 17
- DONALD GORDON MACINTOSHSpecialist Four · January 23, 1968
- JOHN T MCCHESNEY IIISpecialist Four · January 23, 1968
- JOSEPH STANLEY MCKINNEYPrivate First Class · January 23, 1968
- JOSEPH VIEIRASpecialist Four · January 23, 1968
From San Diego
- STANLEY E TRUESDALEStaff Sergeant · April 12, 1963
- CLARENCE CLEMENT TESSMANCaptain · August 10, 1963
- WILLIAM CLIFTON HOOVERPetty Officer Second Class · June 10, 1965
- VIRGIL WAYNE BARTONLance Corporal · August 21, 1965
- CHARLES JOSEPH SCHARFColonel · October 1, 1965
- KENNETH JOE HAMMONDSpecialist Four · November 22, 1965
- RICHARD EUGENE GEORGEPrivate First Class · November 23, 1965
- GERALD CLYDE LYMANPrivate First Class · February 2, 1966
- JOHN JOSEPH SOLLEYLance Corporal · February 8, 1966
- DONALD D DAUGHERTYStaff Sergeant · April 13, 1966
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.