The Wall › Panel 46E › Michigan › John Patrick Giddings
JOHN PATRICK GIDDINGS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
July 19, 1948 – March 26, 1968
Service recordJohn Patrick Giddings, of Cass City, Michigan, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 26, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 46E, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 46E · Line 33
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
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- July 19, 1948
- Home of record
- Cass City, Michigan (Tuscola County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 26, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
87 names on the Wall carry the date March 26, 1968; five of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 104 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 46E, Line 33
- STEVEN HENRY GERLACHFirst Lieutenant · March 26, 1968
- ALVIN RALPH GIBBLEPrivate First Class · March 26, 1968
- DENNIS STEPHEN GLEASONPrivate First Class · March 26, 1968
- JAMES TONY GORSICHFirst Lieutenant · March 26, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ROSS APPLEGATESpecialist Four · Panel 46E, Line 27
- RICHARD LEWIS BELINGEPrivate First Class · Panel 46E, Line 29
- JOHNNIE DARRIEL HARRISPrivate First Class · Panel 46E, Line 34
- CHARLES RAY MOOMEYSpecialist Four · Panel 46E, Line 38
- GARY MARTIN REEDYSpecialist Five · Panel 46E, Line 40
- JAMES FRANCIS STOLINSKISergeant · Panel 46E, Line 42
From Cass City
- DAVID DEL GRAHAMSergeant · May 11, 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.