KEEFE, DOUGLAS O'NEIL
Name: Douglas O'Neil Keefe
Branch/Rank: United States Marine Corps/E2
Unit: HS/3/9 3 MAR DIV
Date of Birth: 09 December 1944
Home City of Record: COLUMBIA SC
Date of Loss: 20 May 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 164017 North 1063956 East
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: GROUND
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0699
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File. 2020
REMARKS:
CACCF/GUNSHOT OR SMALL ARMS FIRE/QUANG TRI
No further information available at this time.
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01/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZrPEAW
On May 20, 1967, a battalion of U.S. Marines assaulted Hill 70 in Quang Tri Province in the vicinity of (GC) YD 107 642. As the Marines moved up narrow trails towards the top of the hill, they were ambushed by North Vietnamese soldiers near the crest. More than thirty Marines were killed or wounded during the assault. Towards evening, the Marines moved their dead and wounded to a place where they would be evacuated by helicopters the next morning. During the night, however, this area came under enemy mortar fire, and several more men were killed. The next morning, 26 fatalities as well as a number of wounded Marines were loaded onto evacuation helicopters. The dead were taken to a mortuary in Dong Ha. The mortuary logged in 25 bodies, although 26 had left the evacuation site. A month long investigation as well as a three day search of the battlefield failed to recover the body of the twenty-sixth Marine killed in action on Hill 70.
Private First Class Douglas O'Neil Keefe, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from South Carolina, served with the Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. He was wounded during the assault on Hill 70 and killed during the night by enemy mortar fire. His body disappeared between the evacuation point and the mortuary and could not be recovered. Today, Private First Class Keefe is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.
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