The Wall › Panel 40E › Texas › Florentino Cantu JR
FLORENTINO CANTU JR
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 5, 1948 – February 21, 1968
Service recordFlorentino Cantu JR, of Laredo, Texas, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 21, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 52 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 52
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. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- September 5, 1948
- Home of record
- Laredo, Texas (Webb County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 21, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
32 names on the Wall carry the date February 21, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 of its members that month.
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 40E, Line 52
- PAUL MELVYN DOUGLASStaff Sergeant · February 21, 1968
- RICHARD PATRICK FRASCACorporal · February 21, 1968
- PAUL DELL HERSCHBACHSpecialist Four · February 21, 1968
- JOE LOUIS PEAKESergeant · February 21, 1968
Same unit, same day
- CLIFFORD CHESTER SIMSStaff Sergeant · Panel 40E, Line 56
From Laredo
- HERIBERTO ARNALDO GARCIACaptain · November 8, 1964
- RODOLFO GUADALUPE GONZALEZSpecialist Four · November 11, 1966
- ALEJANDRO GARCIA JRSpecialist Four · December 29, 1966
- JAVIER ARTURO E SANCHEZStaff Sergeant · May 3, 1967
- RAUL VILLASpecialist Four · May 9, 1967
- JORGE SOSAPrivate First Class · June 3, 1967
- JUAN JOSE GONZALEZPrivate First Class · June 15, 1967
- GUADALUPE MARTINEZSergeant First Class · November 17, 1967
- IGNACIO TORRES JRSergeant · November 18, 1967
- HOMERO PEREZStaff Sergeant · December 1, 1967
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.