The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970.
Bomb craters along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, August 1970. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Francis J McGouldrick JR.

The Wall › Panel 36W › Connecticut › Francis J McGouldrick JR

FRANCIS J MCGOULDRICK JR

Colonel · U.S. Air Force

December 19, 1928 – December 13, 1968

Service record

Francis J McGouldrick JR, of New Haven, Connecticut, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on December 13, 1968, in Laos, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 36W, Line 17 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 36W · Line 17

Position of Panel 36W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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. Air Force
Rank
Colonel (COL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Navigator-Bombardier (1525Z)
Unit (as recorded)
8 TBS 35 TFW
Born
December 19, 1928
Home of record
New Haven, Connecticut (New Haven County)

Casualty

Date of loss
December 13, 1968
Country
Laos
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

36 names on the Wall carry the date December 13, 1968. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “8 TBS 35 TFW”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

He died in Laos while the air war over Laos was under way. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. aircraft bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail and supported the war in northern Laos; many of the Americans lost over Laos were never recovered.

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.

Also on Panel 36W, Line 17

Same unit, same day

From New Haven

All 38 names from New Haven →

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.