The Wall › Panel 38E › Pennsylvania › John Anthony Surgalski
JOHN ANTHONY SURGALSKI
Private · U.S. Marine Corps
May 11, 1948 – February 7, 1968
Service recordJohn Anthony Surgalski, of Tidioute, Pennsylvania, served as a Private in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 7, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 38E, Line 15 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 38E · Line 15
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private (PVT)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewman (1833)
- Born
- May 11, 1948
- Home of record
- Tidioute, Pennsylvania (Warren County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 7, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Nam
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
136 names on the Wall carry the date February 7, 1968; 24 of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Nam 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 38E, Line 15
- ROBERT HARRY SODENSpecialist Four · February 7, 1968
- SAMUEL LUVENE SQUARRELLSergeant First Class · February 7, 1968
- ROBERT JOSEPH STATENHospitalman · February 7, 1968
- ARTHUR ALLYN STEPHENSSpecialist Four · February 7, 1968
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.