Lance Corporal Russell Martin Dobyns, Jr. was born on 25 November 1946 in West Palm Beach, Florida. As the son of a career Air Force officer he attended schools in Florida, Athens, Greece and North Carolina before graduating from Dykes High School in Atlanta, Georgia in 1965. Following graduation he attended Georgia Institute of Technology prior to entering the United States Marine Corps on 15 January 1968. He completed training and received orders for Vietnam. He arrived in country on 7 July 1968 where he was assigned to Company D, 1st Marine Battalion, 3rd Marines, Third Marine Division.

The  Division’s tactical area of responsibility covered over 600 square miles in Northern I Corps. Units were spread from Cua Viet on the Gulf of Tonkin in the East, along the demilitarized zone in the North, to the Laotian border in the West and South, to the upper regions of the Ashau Valley. This mountainous and demanding terrain, with places like Khe Sanh, “The Rock Pile” and Con Thien would come to be known to all Marines as they know Guadalcanal, lwo Jima, Bougainville and every beach where marines have dared to go.

LCPL Dobyns came to know this region and the enemy forces as only an infantryman could. He faced every grueling mission in a way that won him the respect and admiration of his fellow marines. During operation “Virginia Ridge” his unit moved in to defensive positions near the village of Cam Lo in Quang Tri Province and on 10 May 1969, during an intensive mortar and rocket barrage, LCPL Dobyns was killed.

Rusty Dobyns answered his country’s call in the tradition of our finest patriots and made the ultimate sacrifice.

During one of the most trying periods in this country’s history, Rusty’s courage and selflessness reflect positively on his family, the United States Marine Corps and our country.

Lance Corporal Russell M. Dobyns Jr is memorialized at Chastain Park.