The Wall › Panel 48E › Ohio › Walter Michael Ostapchuk
WALTER MICHAEL OSTAPCHUK
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
July 28, 1945 – April 5, 1968
Service recordWalter Michael Ostapchuk, of Columbia, Ohio, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on April 5, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 48E, Line 19 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 48E · Line 19
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assaultman (0351)
- Born
- July 28, 1945
- Home of record
- Columbia, Ohio (Multiple County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 5, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
42 names on the Wall carry the date April 5, 1968; seven of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 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 48E, Line 19
- JAMES ALEXANDER PEMBERTONSpecialist Five · April 5, 1968
- BURTON W PETERSON JRLance Corporal · April 5, 1968
- JOHN ROBERT PIERINIPrivate First Class · April 5, 1968
- GARY ARTHUR RHODESSergeant · April 5, 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.