Thomas Luther McCarter
Last Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
Last Primary NEC/NOC: HN-0000-Hospitalman
Last NEC/NOC Group Hospitalman
Last Duty Station
1967-1967, HM-0000, US Marine Corps (USMC)/3rd Marine Regiment/1st Bn (1/3)
Reason: Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Last Known Activity: Posthumous Promotion
1st Battalion, 3rd Marines provided the bulk of Battalion Landing Team 1/3. On 02 July 1967 the BLT was order to move ashore in northeastern Quang Tri Province in order to assist the 1st Bn, 9th Marines recover Marines killed in an action at the end of June. BLT 1/3 was airlifted into Landing Zone HAWK on 03 July, made contact with the 1/9 Marines, and began a movement northward toward the earlier engagement area. There was only limited enemy contact on 03, 04, and 05 July and a number of dead Marines were located and recovered. Things changed on 06 July, when the 1/3 perimeter was attacked by a battalion from the 90th NVA Regiment supported by heavy artillery firing from within the DMZ. The attack was repelled, but not without loss – seven men from BLT 1/3 were killed in the engagement:
C Co, 1st Tank Bn:
1stLt Wayne M. Hayes, Menomonie, WI
1st Bn, 3rd Marines:
SSgt Gilberto Caballero, San Antonio, TX, H&S 1/3
SSgt John J. Malloy, Great Barrington, MA, Charlie 1/3
Sgt Donald C. Pike, Danville, KY, Charlie 1/3
Sgt Randall K. Russell, Springfield, MO, H&S 1/3
HN Thomas L. McCarter, Knoxville, TN, H&S 1/3
Pfc Verne M. Greeley, Derry, NH, Bravo 1/3
“Tommy was a member of the Young High Class of 1964 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was a member of the Jets (Junior Engineering Technical Society), Spanish Club, and the Jr. Red Cross. He attended Galbraith Elementary School.
On Memorial Day 2003, Tommy’s high school classmates placed roses at the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. to remember him on the 35th year of his death.
At all of our class reunions or class birthday parties, Tommy’s senior high photograph is there with us in a special place. He has been gone so many years, and we miss him deeply.”
-Submitted by classmate, Brenda Carnes
- Rank: Hospital Corpsman Petty Officer 3rd Class (HM3)
- Date of birth: 20 December 1946
- Date of death: 6 July 1967
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Marine Corps
- Division/Assignment: 3rd Marines
- Theater: Southeast Asia
- Conflict: Vietnam
- Battles: Multiple military operations in Quang Tri Province, RVN
- Awards: Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal
- Burial/Memorial Location: Woodlawn Cemetery, Knoxville, Knox County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XXIII, Top Panel
- Sponsored by: Young High School Class of 1964; Harold Diftler
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