The Wall › Panel 56W › Pennsylvania › Bernard Francis Rupinski
BERNARD FRANCIS RUPINSKI
Lieutenant · U.S. Navy
August 20, 1943 – June 16, 1968
Service recordBernard Francis Rupinski, of Edwardsville, Pennsylvania, served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He died on June 16, 1968, in North Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 56W, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 56W · Line 8
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant (LT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1325)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VF 102
- Born
- August 20, 1943
- Home of record
- Edwardsville, Pennsylvania (Luzerne County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- June 16, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Unknown
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
55 names on the Wall carry the date June 16, 1968. In June 1968, 1,257 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 56W, Line 8
- CHARLES ALLEN RYGGPrivate First Class · June 16, 1968
- JOSEPH FREDERICK SCHILLERCorporal · June 16, 1968
- KENNETH W SKINNER IIIPrivate First Class · June 16, 1968
- JOHN GEORGE SOUTHALLCorporal · June 16, 1968
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.