The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Gilbert Dela Pena.

The Wall › Panel 47E › California › Gilbert Dela Pena

GILBERT DELA PENA

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

July 4, 1942 – April 3, 1968

Service record

Gilbert Dela Pena, of Pinedale, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on April 3, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 48 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 47E · Line 48

Position of Panel 47E 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
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Field Artillery Basic (13A)
Unit (as recorded)
1 FIELD FORCE
Born
July 4, 1942
Home of record
Pinedale, California (Fresno County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 3, 1968
Age
25
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

65 names on the Wall carry the date April 3, 1968; 14 of them were lost in Bình Định Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “1 FIELD FORCE”, his unit in the record, lost 22 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 47E, Line 48

Same unit, same day

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.