Dan Bullock

On December 10, 1968, Dan Bullock joined the Marine Corps. Despite being fourteen at the time, Bullock enlisted in the Corps by claiming that he was eighteen.

At a time when many young men were avoiding the draft and military service in Vietnam, Bullock altered his birth certificate claiming that he was born on December 21, 1949, instead of December 21, 1953, in order to join the Marines.

Bullock was sent to Marine boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina, and completed his basic training there on December 10, 1968, eleven days before his fifteenth birthday.

He was stationed at An Hoa Combat Base in Quang Nam Province. Bullock was assigned as a rifleman to Fox Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment.

Originally assigned cleaning duties that night at the base, Bullock was reassigned to take over an injured Marine’s assignment, guarding a Delta Airship. Bullock and other Marines were on guard that night when the Northern Vietnamese Army attacked the base.

Bullock was hit by several rounds of enemy fire and was instantly killed. He was one of four Marines that were also killed during the June 7th attack.

It wasn’t until reporters paid a visit to Bullock’s family that America came to know that Bullock was only 15 years old.

In honor of his bravery, in June 2003 the New York City Council renamed a section of Lee Avenue in Brooklyn, where Bullock had lived since he was 11 years old, in his honor.

PFC. Dan Bullock was the youngest American killed in combat during the Vietnam War.