Remembering PFC Calvin Belton on his birthday; KIA Vietnam Fourth of July 1967

Today would be the 68th birthday of Marine PFC Calvin M. Belton,

New Haven Vietnam Veterans Memorial

killed in action on July 4, 1967. He was a machine gunner in Kilo Company, 3^rd Battalion, 9^th Marines (3/9). A native of New Haven, Connecticut, he was 20. PFC Belton is one of more than 7,200 African-Americans who died in Vietnam.

On that Fourth of July, the 3/9 was part of a Marine contingent fighting in Operation Buffalo. The 3/9 lost 15 men that day, twelve of them from Kilo Company.

PFC Belton's name is inscribed on a distinctive, V-shaped monument in Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park along the New Haven waterfront. The memorial includes the names of 55 New Haven area residents who were killed in Vietnam and three who were prisoners or reported missing.