The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Franco Ruiz.

The Wall › Panel 35E › Michigan › John Franco Ruiz

JOHN FRANCO RUIZ

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

August 17, 1947 – January 29, 1968

Service record

John Franco Ruiz, of De Witt, Michigan, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on January 29, 1968, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 35E, Line 63 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 35E · Line 63

Position of Panel 35E 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

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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
August 17, 1947
Home of record
De Witt, Michigan (Clinton County)

Casualty

Date of death
January 29, 1968
Age
20
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

32 names on the Wall carry the date January 29, 1968; 14 of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In January 1968, 1,546 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 37 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 35E, Line 63

Same unit, same day

From De Witt

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.