The Wall › Panel 41E › California › Frank Dennis Ortega
FRANK DENNIS ORTEGA
Private First Class · U.S. Army
April 28, 1946 – February 25, 1968
Service recordFrank Dennis Ortega, of Saugus, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 25, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 26
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- April 28, 1946
- Home of record
- Saugus, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 25, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Nam
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
96 names on the Wall carry the date February 25, 1968; six of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 140 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Nam Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 41E, Line 26
- HENRY MCDONALD IIIPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- RICHARD WAYNE MCKENZIELance Corporal · February 25, 1968
- WILLIAM LESTER NEWSOMEPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
- EARL EPHRAIM PARKERPrivate First Class · February 25, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LARRY WILLIAM KRAFTPrivate First Class · Panel 41E, Line 23
From Saugus
- DAVID LEE REEDERSergeant · November 19, 1965
- JOSEPH SAMUEL GODWINPetty Officer Third Class · April 7, 1966
- TERRY DALE GEMASPrivate First Class · December 29, 1966
- JOHN WILLIAM BORDERS JRPetty Officer Second Class · March 8, 1968
- MICHAEL ANDREW FAYSpecialist Five · March 26, 1968
- CHARLES CLARENCE SMITH JRSpecialist Four · April 18, 1969
- HENRY CHESTER KLINGERSpecialist Four · January 1, 1970
- GARY ALLEN TURNBULLSergeant · May 10, 1970
- GARY ROBERT MONTELEONESpecialist Four · May 10, 1972
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.