The Wall › Panel 36W › Illinois › Gale Walter Croon
GALE WALTER CROON
First Lieutenant · U.S. Air Force
July 22, 1942 – December 12, 1968
Service recordGale Walter Croon, of Nokomis, Illinois, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He died on December 12, 1968, in Khanh Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 36W, Line 10 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36W · Line 10
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
- First Lieutenant (1STLT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Born
- July 22, 1942
- Home of record
- Nokomis, Illinois (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- December 12, 1968
- Age
- 26
- Province
- Khanh Hoa
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Illness
- Circumstance
- Infectious Disease
Context · from the records
What was happening
17 names on the Wall carry the date December 12, 1968; he was the only one lost in Khanh Hoa Province that day. In December 1968, 855 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
Also on Panel 36W, Line 10
- ROBERT LEON BELTRANSpecialist Four · December 12, 1968
- DAN MICHAEL BENNETTPetty Officer Third Class · December 12, 1968
- JAMES KENNETH BRIERLYFirst Lieutenant · December 12, 1968
- FREDERICK GEORGE DEROCHERCorporal · December 12, 1968
From Nokomis
- AERIO JOSEPH LUCCHI JRPrivate First Class · March 11, 1971
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.