HENRY J. BOYE JR
Home Of Record:
PINE HILL
County:
Camden
Status:
Killed In Action
Rank:
PFC
Branch Of Service:
Marines
Country Of Incident:
SVN
Date of Casualty:
May 31, 1968
Date of Birth:
June 26, 1949 
 

1st Mar Div B Co 1st Bn 1st Marines Rifleman (USMC)

PFC - E2 - Marine Corps - Regular Length of service 0 years His tour began on Apr 30, 1968 Casualty was on May 31, 1968 In QUANG TRI, SOUTH VIETNAM HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY OTHER EXPLOSIVE DEVICE Body was recovered   Panel 62W - Line 5

Birth: Jun. 26, 1949
New Jersey, USA
Death: May 31, 1968, Vietnam

United States Marine Corps Private First Class. He was in service in South Vietnam for about five months when he was killed in action from an explosive device during the Tet Offensive.

Burial::
Beverly National Cemetery
Beverly
Burlington County
New Jersey, USA
Plot: Section X Site 2003

The Coffelt Database - Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War - Click here to view File

Henry Joseph Boye, Jr. was born to Sarah Elizabeth Parkinson Boye and Henry Joseph Boye, Sr. on June 26, 1949. His home of record is Pine Hill, NJ. He was their first child and was followed by two brothers and a sister. Henry, Hank to his friends, spent his childhood playing organized sports such as football and baseball with various township teams. He was a better than average athlete and turned out to be a talented starting third baseman for his high school team – the Overbrook Regional Rams.

Always the practical joker, he was responsible for many gray hairs of the teachers who taught him. Henry was a decent student in school, but definitely took more joy in his friends and shop class rather than academics. He loved to work and tinker with cars, as did many of his friends. His pride and joy was a white ’65 Mustang that he bought his senior year of high school.

Henry graduated from Overbrook Regional High School in June 1967. After graduation, he worked at various jobs, becoming a butcher’s apprentice in the summer. In the fall, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps and went off to Boot Camp and finally off to Vietnam early in 1968, attaining the rank of Private First Class (PFC).

He was only there four months when he was wounded. He wrote to the family and told us how lucky he was to have received superficial cuts from shrapnel. On May 31, 1968, less than a month after receiving his letter telling of his luck, Henry was killed in action in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. He was one month from his nineteenth birthday. His death occurred during the Tet Offensive, a major insurgence of North Vietnam to South Vietnam.

Henry was awarded the Purple Heart, as well as several medals from the Vietnamese government. He left behind a mother, father, two brothers, a sister, and many friends.

I met Hank at the Philadelphia, PA. airport in 1968 while we were waiting to go to Camp Pendleton. We hit it off right away, and it sure made the trip to "staging" at Camp Pendleton a fun ride; I guess it was a little too much fun, laughing with Hank, since the stewardess told us several times to be quiet.

When we were at Pendleton, Hank and I, along with a Marine named Able (first name), spent most of our off-duty time together in Oceanside, CA (where we got our tattoos). We went to Disneyland several times, and each time was the greatest. I still remember Hank's irritation that I wanted to ride the "It's a Small World" ride. He went with me, but he made clear what a goofy ride it was (he was right!). On the plus side, we saw the "Lovin' Spoonful" there. I danced, but Hank said that it looked like I was very stiff (this is not how he put it!).

When we got to Phu Bai, we were assigned to different companies, me to Delta.

When I humped up the final hill for the day in early June, some other guys from the Battalion told me of Hank's death. It broke my heart.

Written by LCpl Peter Doerschuk, Friend

Information provided by LCpl Peter Doerschuk (friend) and NJVVMF.

 

MESSAGES LEFT ON THEWALL-USA (as of 2/28/09)

** Note that some of these messages are from years ago and their contact information may not be good anymore **

Lanny Yox
Fellow Marine
Unforunately, I was unable to meet Henry as he was KIA the exact day I arrived in Nam. Henry may you rest in peace brother and Semper Fi....LYox/Sgt/USMC/RVN68"69"
Jun 26, 2007

Pete Doerschuk
pmdoersch@comcast.net
My friend
I met Hank at the Philadelphia airport when we were both getting ready to go to Camp Pendelton. We hit it off right away. We flew out to Pendleton in adjoining seats. At Pendleton we always hung out in Oceanside with a guy name Able. We had great times together. When we were finally assigned to companies at Phu Bai, Hank went to a different Company. He was killed during our first operation. It broke my heart. I loved him like a brother. I miss him. Pete. Delta 1/1.
Saturday, September 06, 2003

If you would like to add a story, comment, or contact, please email CCVietnamKIA@gmail.com