The Wall › Panel 43E › California › John Michael Tomkins
JOHN MICHAEL TOMKINS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
August 13, 1946 – March 8, 1968
Service recordJohn Michael Tomkins, of Panorama City, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 8, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 43E, Line 64 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 43E · Line 64
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
- Regular
- Occupation
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- SPECIAL FORCES
- Born
- August 13, 1946
- Home of record
- Panorama City, California (Los Angeles County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 8, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Quang Nam
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Died of Wounds
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
68 names on the Wall carry the date March 8, 1968; four of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 16 of its members that month.
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.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 43E, Line 64
- BEN HAROLD WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · March 8, 1968
- TERRY ALLEN WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · March 8, 1968
- RICKEY EUGENE APPLEBYLance Corporal · March 9, 1968
- RICHARD THORNTON ARTHURPrivate First Class · March 9, 1968
From Panorama City
- STEVEN DALE ZUCROFFCorporal · May 13, 1968
- JAMES TITMAS IIIPrivate First Class · May 26, 1969
- BARRY MERCER STRAWCaptain · March 5, 1971
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.