THE WALL OF FACES

Marine Corps Recruit Depot
Parris Island, SC
Third Battalion
Platoon 374

Training Commenced: September 1962

SSGT J.R. Livingstone _ Senior Drill Instructor
SGT S.J. Smith - Junior Drill Instructor
SGT D.W. Johnson - Junior Drill Instructor

LCPL Raymond Blanchette was the only
member of Platoon 374 to be KIA in Viet Nam.

Semper Fidelis, Marine!

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir,. The remembrance from your fellow soldier Carl Allen is especially moving. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us....

May those who served never be forgotten. Rest in peace LCPL. Blanchette, I salute your brave soul. My heart goes out to you and your family. Semper Fidelis!

Lance Corporal Raymond Blanchette was the son of Raymond A. Blanchette and Marie Gaboriau Blanchette of Tolland, CT. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on September 25, 1962 in Hartford, CT. LCpl Blanchette was a Marine Rifleman, age 21, born May 22, 1944, from Tolland, CT. LCpl Blanchette arrived in Vietnam with Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), III MAF, FMFPac. On March 4, Operation UTAH was launched under the command of Task Force Delta in the Son Thinh District of Quang Ngai Province where the Marines would encounter elements of the 21st NVA Regiment. On D-day 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines conducted a helicopter assault near the Chau Ngai complex of villages and was heavily engaged with a regiment of NVA regulars near Hill 50 and Hill 35. Elements of F Company and H Company were overrun but were able to recover and consolidate to a night position near Chau Ngai 4. By the end of D-Day, 2/7 counted 94 enemy KIA and estimated 63 WIA. Friendly losses were 44 KIA and 84 WIA. An additional 20+ persons received minor wounds and were not evacuated. The next day, 5 March, the battle moved to the North and 2/7 cleaned up the battlefields from the day before, recovering the dead, and clearing out caves and bunkers. On March 4, 1966, LCpl Blanchette was killed in action dying outright from enemy gunshot wounds. LCpl Blanchette is interred at Saint Bernard’s Cemetery, Rockville, Connecticut and is honored on the Vietnam Memorial on Panel 05E, Line 099.

Lance Corporal Raymond Blanchette, Served with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Third Marine Amphibious Force.