The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967.
A 5th Special Forces Group sergeant teaches Civilian Irregular Defense Group trainees, March 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, DASPO, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Gary Lee Matson.

The Wall › Panel 40W › California › Gary Lee Matson

GARY LEE MATSON

Specialist Five · U.S. Army

February 7, 1946 – October 30, 1968

Service record

Gary Lee Matson, of Alameda, California, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on October 30, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 40W, Line 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 40W · Line 58

Position of Panel 40W 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 Five (SP5)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Combat Engineer (12B)
Unit (as recorded)
SPECIAL FORCES
Born
February 7, 1946
Home of record
Alameda, California (Alameda County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 30, 1968
Age
22
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

24 names on the Wall carry the date October 30, 1968; five of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In October 1968, 821 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 9 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 40W, Line 58

From Alameda

All 25 names from Alameda →

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.