Hometown: Kerrville, TX
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: Fleet Marine Force Pacific, 1st Marine Air Wing, Marine Air Base Squadron 16, HMM-361
Military Honors: Air Medal, Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal
Date of Sacrifice: October 8, 1963 - KIA in Quảng Nam province, South Vietnam
Age: 22 
Conflict: Vietnam War, 1959-1975

Manuel Reyes Denton was born in San Antonio, Texas on June 18, 1941.

When he was a young man, Denton’s mother became ill and was hospitalized. Denton was sent to live with his grandmother in Seguin, Texas—a 40-minute drive east of San Antonio. There he attended Joe F. Saegert Junior High School and spent his free time helping the local Sheriff train trick-performing horses.

After his mother recovered, Denton rejoined her in their Kerrville, Texas home. He attended Tivy High School, where he met his future wife, Esmeralda.

Manuel Denton enlisted in the U.S. Navy and graduated from Field Medical Service School in December of 1962, where he was trained in emergency medical treatment under combat conditions. As a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy, Denton also received some basic infantry training similar to that of the Marines.

Assigned to Fleet Marine Force Pacific, 1st Marine Air Wing, Marine Air Base Squadron 16, HMM-361, Denton held the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. HMM-361 was a U.S. Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron, known as the “Flying Tigers,” based at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California. In Vietnam, the squadron flew dangerous missions—often in combat conditions—in a UH-34D Choctaw helicopter.

On October 8, 1963, Denton’s helicopter with a crew of six was sent to an area 43 miles west of the city of Danang in Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam. They were part of a search-and-rescue mission for two downed pilots.

Under intense enemy ground fire, Denton’s helicopter was hit and went down. There were no survivors. Four of the six crew members’ remains were recovered and identified. But the remains of Denton and fellow crewmember Lance Corporal Luther E. Ritchey, Jr. could not be found, despite a thorough search within a 250-yard radius. Denton and Ritchey were listed among the unaccounted-for servicemen from the Vietnam War.

Between 1991 and 2000, several teams led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) traveled to Quảng Nam Province to investigate the incident and interview witnesses. Joint teams from the U.S. and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam surveyed the crash site and found wreckage consistent with a UH-34D helicopter.

More than 44 years later, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA, formerly JPAC) was able to identify Denton’s remains, and he was listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as accounted for on May 14, 2008. Crewmate LCpl Ritchey’s remains had been identified in 2003.

HM3 Manuel Reyes Denton left behind a wife and three young daughters. He is honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., his name inscribed on Panel 01E, Line 29. He is buried alongside his fellow crew members at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60 Grave 8656.

Manuel Reyes Denton gave his life coming to the rescue of others.

Sources
Details submitted by Ms. Sandra Tager, HM3 Denton’s daughter and Mr. Rick Peña, Denton’s nephew.
Card photo from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Wall of Faces: Manuel Reyes Denton
POW Network: Denton, Manuel Reyes
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency: PO3 MANUEL REYES DENTON
Honor States: Manuel Reyes Denton
Together We Served: Denton, Manuel Reyes, HM3
Together We Served: Veterans Network, HMM-361, United States Marine Corps
U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery: Hospital Corps
Burial Site: Find a Grave