The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of William Blair Tarrance.

The Wall › Panel 32W › California › William Blair Tarrance

WILLIAM BLAIR TARRANCE

Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps

August 13, 1947 – February 22, 1969

Service record

William Blair Tarrance, of Torrance, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 22, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 32W, Line 86 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 32W · Line 86

Position of Panel 32W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Scout-Sniper (8541)
Born
August 13, 1947
Home of record
Torrance, California (Los Angeles County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 22, 1969
Age
21
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

61 names on the Wall carry the date February 22, 1969; 20 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Quảng Trị Province while Operation Dewey Canyon was under way. In Operation Dewey Canyon (22 January–18 March 1969) the 9th Marines struck North Vietnamese base areas in the Đa Krông and A Shau valleys, the last major Marine offensive of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.

Also on Panel 32W, Line 86

From Torrance

All 42 names from Torrance →

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.