The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Fred Kawailani Mas Hatada.

The Wall › Panel 36E › Hawaii › Fred Kawailani Mas Hatada

FRED KAWAILANI MAS HATADA

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

October 8, 1948 – January 31, 1968

Service record

Fred Kawailani Mas Hatada, of Hilo, Hawaii, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on January 31, 1968, in Vinh Long Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 36E, Line 13 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 36E · Line 13

Position of Panel 36E 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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Clerk-Typist (71B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
October 8, 1948
Home of record
Hilo, Hawaii (Hawaii County)

Casualty

Date of death
January 31, 1968
Age
19
Province
Vinh Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

246 names on the Wall carry the date January 31, 1968; eight of them were lost in Vinh Long Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 33 of its members that month.

He died in Vinh Long 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 36E, Line 13

Same unit, same day

From Hilo

All 13 names from Hilo →

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.