The Wall › Panel 40E › Connecticut › Joseph Paul Zale
JOSEPH PAUL ZALE
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
August 24, 1946 – February 20, 1968
Service recordJoseph Paul Zale, of Vernon, Connecticut, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 20, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 50 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 50
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
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- August 24, 1946
- Home of record
- Vernon, Connecticut (Tolland County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 20, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Gia Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
76 names on the Wall carry the date February 20, 1968; 21 of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.
He died in Gia Dinh 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 40E, Line 50
- RICHARD DEWEY VICKPrivate First Class · February 20, 1968
- HOWARD WILLIAMSStaff Sergeant · February 20, 1968
- DALE EDWARD ANDERSONSpecialist Four · February 21, 1968
- WALTER GILMORE ANDERSONPetty Officer First Class · February 21, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JOSEPH THOMAS GALLAGHERSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 39
- JAMES EDWARD MURRAYSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 44
- SAM WILLIAM STEWARTPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 48
From Vernon
- RANDALL SCOTT FLETCHERPrivate First Class · August 24, 1968
- WHITNEY T FERGUSON IIIPrivate First Class · March 11, 1969
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.