The Wall › Panel 44E › Iowa › William George Downs JR
WILLIAM GEORGE DOWNS JR
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
November 24, 1948 – March 14, 1968
Service recordWilliam George Downs JR, of Sioux City, Iowa, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 14, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 45 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 45
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
- Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewman (1833)
- Born
- November 24, 1948
- Home of record
- Sioux City, Iowa (Woodbury County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 14, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
63 names on the Wall carry the date March 14, 1968; 17 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 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 44E, Line 45
- ANDREW DANIEL CHOWKAPrivate First Class · March 14, 1968
- DAVID FRANKLIN COSBYPrivate First Class · March 14, 1968
- GEORGE JOSE COXStaff Sergeant · March 14, 1968
- HARRY JOSEPH ELLIS IIISergeant · March 14, 1968
From Sioux City
- DUANE MICHAEL NELSONPrivate First Class · October 10, 1965
- VERNON GLENN CHASEPrivate First Class · February 21, 1966
- DENNIS EDWARD BROWNPrivate First Class · June 11, 1966
- RONALD HARRY KAISERPrivate First Class · August 1, 1966
- FREDERICK WILLIAM LENNONSpecialist Four · October 17, 1966
- KENNETT KEITH SCOTTLance Corporal · October 19, 1966
- ROBERT ERNEST HARRISLieutenant Colonel · November 9, 1966
- JEFFREY MARTI KROMMENHOEKLieutenant Commander · October 25, 1967
- KELLY FRANCIS COOKColonel · November 10, 1967
- RICHARD JOSEPH BOESHARTSergeant · December 15, 1967
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.