The Wall › Panel 41E › New York › Ferdinando Distefano
FERDINANDO DISTEFANO
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps
January 10, 1943 – February 24, 1968
Service recordFerdinando Distefano, of New York, New York, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 24, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · 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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Second Lieutenant (2NDLT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantry Officer (I) (0302)
- Born
- January 10, 1943
- Home of record
- New York, New York (Kings County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 24, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
45 names on the Wall carry the date February 24, 1968; nine of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 41E, Line 8
- PATRICK H DOWNEYSpecialist Four · February 24, 1968
- WALTER DANIEL FAITHPrivate First Class · February 24, 1968
- JONATHAN ROYAL GADDISSergeant First Class · February 24, 1968
- BROADUS DALE HILYERPrivate First Class · February 24, 1968
From New York
- WALTER R MCCARTHY JRCaptain · June 16, 1962
- JOHN HOWARD MCCLEANCaptain · August 16, 1963
- DONALD ALLAN MOLLICONEFirst Lieutenant · December 20, 1963
- VINCENT JOSEPH HICKMANCaptain · January 14, 1964
- MARTIN STOCKFEDERPrivate First Class · July 15, 1964
- ROBERT GEORGE ARMSTRONGFirst Lieutenant · October 24, 1964
- DOMINICK SANSONESergeant First Class · December 10, 1964
- DONALD GILBERT COOKColonel · December 31, 1964
- TERENCE MEREDITH MURPHYLieutenant (junior grade) · April 9, 1965
- ROBERT CARL WISTRANDColonel · May 9, 1965
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.