Name: Dennis Richard Schmidt Rank: Corporal Service Number: 2104609 Service: 2nd Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment 3rd Marine Division, US Marine Corps Awards: Purple Heart, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal Date of Birth: June 6, 1945 Place of Birth: East Chester, Lunenburg County, NS Date of Enlistment: August 12, 1964 Place of Enlistment: New York Address at Enlistment: North Plainfield, Somerset County, New Jersey Date of Death: August 8, 1966 Age: 26 Cemetery: Elm Grove Cemetery, Steam Mill Village, Kings County, Nova Scotia Remembered on Panel 9E, Line 117 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC Remembered on the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Windsor, Ontario Dennis Richard Schmidt was the son of Bernard R. Schmidt (1924-2001) and Belle Agnes (Pulsifre) Schmidt (1924-2008), and the brother of Audrey Schmidt and Shelia Schmidt, and a third sister. His mother was born in Upper Tantallon, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, and his father was born in Rosetown, Saskatchewan. Dennis lived in Halifax where he attended Tower Road School. He later moved to Kentville with his parents and lived there attending Kentville High School four years before moving to the United States. While in New Jersey, Dennis enlisted in the US Marine Corps on August 12, 1964, in New York and upon completion of Boot Camp, at Parris Island, South Carolina, and Infantry Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, he was assigned to his first unit for duty as a Rifleman with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2d Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force (FMF) at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, on December 11, 1964. After leave on October 8, 1965, he returned to his unit where he received orders for duty in Vietnam and upon arrival in Southeast Asia April 19, 1966, he was assigned to and served with Company E, 2ndd Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment, 3d Marine Division (Rein) FMF in northern Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. With the termination of Operation Hastings, Operation Prairie began in northern Quang Tri Province. On August 8, a Recon Team on patrol northeast of the Rock pile made contact with an enemy force and a reaction squad was sent to reinforce the team, with the enemy retreating into the heavy undergrowth both Marine units then moved to a designated location where a helicopter extraction could be made. Arriving at their destination the ground units encountered a reinforced NVA Company; a fierce fire fight broke out against the superior foe, supporting arms from fixed wing aircraft to artillery were called and began pounding the enemy. By nightfall most of the troops were picked up from the hot LZ (Landing Zone) with sixteen men remaining on the ground until morning. Casualties sustained during the battle were four Marines killed in the action and eighteen men being wounded. One of the casualties was Corporal Schmidt who was killed by hostile rifle fire. Corporal Schmidt was returned to Halifax for burial, and he was interred in a family plot at the United Baptist Church Cemetery, Head of St Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. He was later reinterred at the Elm Grove Cemetery in Steam Mill Village near Aldershot, Nova Scotia. Vietnam Veterans Day is commemorated each March 29th in the United States of America.

Dennis Richard Schmidt

Sources: findagrave – Elm Grove Cemetery honorstates.org uswarmemorial.org The VirtualWall.org The Wall of Faces by the Vietnam War Memorial Fund (background photo: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall)