Donald Ted Sluder
Donald Ted Sluder
US Marine Corps
Corporal
Bravo Company, 7th Engineering Battalion, 1st Marine Division
Born February 22, 1967 to Rom and Nellie Raye Sluder
Died October 18, 1967
Sluder who began his tour of duty in Vietnam on September 10, 1971 was assigned to the 7th Engineering Battalion. His unit, Bravo Company, was tasked with fixing potholes on Route 1. They would use a jackhammer to dig out and reshape the pothole, then another crew would shovel out the debris and then a third crew would come behind and fill in with asphalt.
Evidently the story is that the crew quit for the night after shovel out debris and left a couple of potholes with debris in them. During the night, the Vietcong hide a frag grenade under the debris in one of the holes.
The next morning October 9, 1967, Sluder and his buddy, Jerry Baker began removing the debris when the grenade blew. Both men were taken by medivac chopper to the Naval Hospital in Da Nang alive. Baker, who was closest to the grenade had serious injuries, but survived. Sluder, who appeared to be ok other than being peppered by little pieces of fragment wires, and a busted eardrum died 9 days after the explosion from a blood clot.
Sluder was due to rotate back to the states 10 days prior to this tragedy, but had chosen to extend his duty in Vietnam by 6 months.
Cpl. Sluder received the Purple Heart is buried in the Philippi Cemetery, Mountain City, TN
US Marine Corps
Corporal
Bravo Company, 7th Engineering Battalion, 1st Marine Division
Born February 22, 1967 to Rom and Nellie Raye Sluder
Died October 18, 1967
Sluder who began his tour of duty in Vietnam on September 10, 1971 was assigned to the 7th Engineering Battalion. His unit, Bravo Company, was tasked with fixing potholes on Route 1. They would use a jackhammer to dig out and reshape the pothole, then another crew would shovel out the debris and then a third crew would come behind and fill in with asphalt.
Evidently the story is that the crew quit for the night after shovel out debris and left a couple of potholes with debris in them. During the night, the Vietcong hide a frag grenade under the debris in one of the holes.
The next morning October 9, 1967, Sluder and his buddy, Jerry Baker began removing the debris when the grenade blew. Both men were taken by medivac chopper to the Naval Hospital in Da Nang alive. Baker, who was closest to the grenade had serious injuries, but survived. Sluder, who appeared to be ok other than being peppered by little pieces of fragment wires, and a busted eardrum died 9 days after the explosion from a blood clot.
Sluder was due to rotate back to the states 10 days prior to this tragedy, but had chosen to extend his duty in Vietnam by 6 months.
Cpl. Sluder received the Purple Heart is buried in the Philippi Cemetery, Mountain City, TN
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Cpl Sluder in Vietnam
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