Borton, Robert Curtis Jr.
Marines Gunnery sergeant

Robert Curtis Jr. Borton, age 20, from Benton Harbor, Michigan, Berrien County.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, August 28, 1968
Death details: On March 29, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Gunnery Sergeant Robert Curtis Borton Jr., missing from the Vietnam War.

Gunnery Sergeant Borton, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Michigan, served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. On August 28, 1968, he was on a fire team that departed a base in Quang Nam Province to establish an offensive position near Hoa Hai Village, Vietnam. During the mission, the fire team was ambushed and GySgt Borton was killed, but his body could not be recovered at the time. In 1993, a joint U.S./Vietnamese investigative team excavated a suspected grave site in Quang Nam Province and recovered a set of human remains. Forensic analysts later identified these remains as those of GySgt Borton.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency