U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Dan Bullock was 15 years old when he was killed in action in the Quang Nam province of South Vietnam in 1969, making him the youngest American casualty of the Vietnam War.
Dan is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Panel 23W, Row 96.
Originally from Goldsboro, North Carolina, when Dan was 12, his mother died. He and his younger sister, Gloria, moved to Brooklyn to live with their father and his wife.
Dan always knew that he wanted to become either a police officer or a Marine. Not being happy with his living situation, he falsified the date on his birth certificate in order to enlist in the Marine Corps. On paper, Dan was 18 years old. He enlisted in the Marines on September 18, 1968 at just 14 years old. Being 5’9” and 160 lbs. no one questioned.
He was sent to Parris Island for his basic training. At first, he struggled to make it through, but, with help from one of his fellow recruits, he was able to complete it. Bullock graduated from boot camp on December 10, 1968.
Dan was assigned to Fox Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment as a rifleman. He arrived in Vietnam on May 18, 1969.
As in boot camp, he kept to himself so that he would not give himself away. But, as in boot camp, a fellow soldier (his squad leader) sensing he needed a ‘big brother’ watched over him.
He was stationed at An Hoa Combat Base west of Hội An in Quảng Nam Province. During a North Vietnamese army night attack on June 7, 1969, he and three other marines were killed while on night watch duty.
Click image to enlarge
