The Wall › Panel 20E › California › Gordon Byron Blackwood
GORDON BYRON BLACKWOOD
Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force
July 18, 1938 – January 30, 1967
Service recordGordon Byron Blackwood, of Palo Verde, California, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on January 30, 1967, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 20E, Line 128 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 20E · Line 128
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
- Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Flight Training Instructor (1355C)
- Born
- July 18, 1938
- Home of record
- Palo Verde, California (Imperial County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- January 30, 1967
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
11 names on the Wall carry the date January 30, 1967. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 20E, Line 128
- ROY ROBERT BOOTHSpecialist Four · May 27, 1967
- THOMAS ALAN BURKHARDTLance Corporal · May 27, 1967
- ROBERT BLAINE DANIELSLance Corporal · May 27, 1967
- PETER EVAN DAYFirst Lieutenant · May 27, 1967
From Palo Verde
- ALAN LEE MATTHEWSLance Corporal · September 2, 1967
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.