Donald Ray Ellis

The database page for Donald Ray Ellis

11 Sep 2002 He died protecting a wounded Marine he was treating from a mortar attack as the Marines were advancing up a hill, during his 2nd tour of Vietnam. He entered the Navy on August 21, 1964. He went to boot camp in San Diego, Calif. Died HM3 - Petty Officer 3rd Class. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery under fire, posthumous, it was given to his mother with the flag. We went in together, and he came home first. From a friend, Marc A. Bothne E-Mail may be forwarded via the Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

A Note from The Virtual Wall Operation HICKORY in May 1967 was directed at reducing the combat strength and supporting infrastructure of North Vietnamese Army units operating in and south of the DMZ. The Battalion Landing Team built around 2nd Bn, 3rd Marines was inserted on 20 May in the northeastern corner of the HICKORY operating area. Hotel 2/3 made an opposed air assault into LZ PARROT at YD147773; the opposition was strong enough so that the LZ was closed to further landings until Hotel 2/3 and supporting arms had secured the area. Hotel 2/3 then moved toward its initial objective, a village to the north-northwest at YD144787. The village was fortified and defended by what appeared to be a reinforced NVA platoon, supported by mortars and artillery firing from within the DMZ. The NVA were forced to withdraw by sundown, but the Marines had lost eight men in the intial landing and the subsequent assault. They were A Co, 3rd Eng Bn Pfc Ronald L. Sharar, Orlando, FL, combat engineer with Hotel 2/3 Hotel Company: HM3 Donald R. Ellis, Florence, AZ, Corpsman H&S with Hotel 2/3 (Silver Star) Cpl Roy Smith, Birmingham, AL LCpl Edwardo J. Gonzales, Sinton, TX (Silver Star) Pfc Mark R. Lander, Battle Creek, MI Pfc Alan R. May, Cicero, IL Pfc Ronald D. Starr, Martins Ferry, OH Pfc Sandy Zimmerman, Baltimore, MD "You guys are the Marine's doctors - There's none better in the business than a Navy Corpsman ..." -- Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller -- Visit John Dennison's Medics on the Wall memorial which honors the Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen who died in Vietnam.

The point-of-contact for this memorial is a friend, Marc A. Bothne E-Mail may be forwarded via the Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

Top of Page www.VirtualWall.org Back to To alpha index E AZ State Index . Panel 20E 3RD MARINES Index Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 11 Sep 2002
Last updated 08/20/2006