Say His Name to Remember: PFC Dan Bullock

PFC Dan Bullock was born on December 21, 1953, in Goldsboro, North Carolina. After his mother passed away, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his family as a teenager. Dissatisfied with his circumstances in New York and feeling discouraged by the limited opportunities available to him, he sought a brighter future.  By enlisting he felt that he was fast tracking his education opportunities.  

At just 14 years old, Bullock walked into a U.S. Marine Corps recruitment station, where he falsified his birth certificate to make it appear that he was 18, changing his birth date to December 21, 1949. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on September 18, 1968, a decision his family only learned about when he returned home with his enlistment papers.

Bullock completed boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and arrived in Vietnam on May 18, 1969. He was stationed at An Hoa Combat Base in Quang Nam Province, serving as a rifleman with Fox Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment.

Though large in stature, Bullock was still a boy in many ways. He was quiet and kept to himself, a fact that did not go unnoticed by his fellow Marines. Corporal Steve Piscitelli, also with the Second Platoon of Fox Company, recognized Bullock's reserved nature and felt compelled to mentor him.

Tragically, on June 7, 1969, Bullock was killed by small arms fire while on night watch at An Hoa Combat Base. He was only 15 years old and had been in Vietnam for nearly a month, making him the youngest American service member to lose his life in the Vietnam War.