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 Joseph Russle Clinch.

The Wall › Panel 10W › Illinois › Joseph Russle Clinch

JOSEPH RUSSLE CLINCH

First Lieutenant · U.S. Army

June 30, 1948 – May 30, 1970

Service record

Joseph Russle Clinch, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on May 30, 1970, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 10W, Line 120 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 10W · Line 120

Position of Panel 10W 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
First Lieutenant (1LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
June 30, 1948
Home of record
Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 30, 1970
Age
21
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

17 names on the Wall carry the date May 30, 1970; he was the only one lost in Thừa Thiên Province that day. In May 1970, 917 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 170 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 10W, Line 120

From Chicago

All 955 names from Chicago →

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.