The Wall › Panel 35E › Illinois › Willie Richard Caulton
WILLIE RICHARD CAULTON
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
January 30, 1945 – January 26, 1968
Service recordWillie Richard Caulton, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on January 26, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 41 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 35E · Line 41
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Machinegunner (0331)
- Born
- January 30, 1945
- Home of record
- Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 26, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
33 names on the Wall carry the date January 26, 1968; 12 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. 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 41
- FRANCIS GERALD CORCORAN JRMaster Sergeant · December 9, 1967
- LYLE WAYNE MORRISPrivate First Class · January 26, 1968
- MAXIE LANE PRICESergeant · January 26, 1968
- ROBERT LEE SCOTTPrivate First Class · January 26, 1968
- PETER LENHART SILLERSecond Lieutenant · January 26, 1968
From Chicago
- MELVIN LESTER WATERSPrivate · February 10, 1965
- WILLIAM RALPH FUHRMANPetty Officer Third Class · April 23, 1965
- RAYMOND LEON HORNCorporal · May 1, 1965
- ARTHUR C JEPSON JRCaptain · May 16, 1965
- DONALD CLAY DEDMONStaff Sergeant · June 10, 1965
- ROGER PELIKANLance Corporal · July 17, 1965
- HARRY COHENTechnical Sergeant · July 19, 1969
- CURTIS LOCKHARTPrivate First Class · July 30, 1965
- EDWARD KOPECPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- JAMES LEO WHITELance Corporal · August 19, 1965
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.