The Wall › Panel 21E › New Jersey › Joseph Thomas Kearns JR
JOSEPH THOMAS KEARNS JR
Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force
August 26, 1936 – June 3, 1967
Service recordJoseph Thomas Kearns JR, of Sea Girt, New Jersey, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on June 3, 1967, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 21E, Line 47 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 21E · Line 47
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. Air Force
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Weapon Systems Officer (1555A)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 13 BOMB SQ
- Born
- August 26, 1936
- Home of record
- Sea Girt, New Jersey (Monmouth County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- June 3, 1967
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
70 names on the Wall carry the date June 3, 1967. In June 1967, 948 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “13 BOMB SQ”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 21E, Line 47
- GERALD LLOYD FOELLPrivate First Class · June 3, 1967
- DARREL LEROY HOVENDENCorporal · June 3, 1967
- GEORGE HARRY JOHNSONCorporal · June 3, 1967
- STRAUGHAN D KELSEY JRSecond Lieutenant · June 3, 1967
Same unit, same day
- THEODORE SPRINGSTON JRColonel · Panel 21E, Line 53
From Sea Girt
- JOHN WILLIAM CIALLELLALance Corporal · November 17, 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.