The Wall › Panel 16E › California › Joseph Thomas Melendres
JOSEPH THOMAS MELENDRES
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
May 31, 1947 – March 18, 1967
Service recordJoseph Thomas Melendres, of Concord, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 18, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 16E, Line 105 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 16E · Line 105
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
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 4 INF DIV
- Born
- May 31, 1947
- Home of record
- Concord, California (Contra Costa County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 18, 1967
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
27 names on the Wall carry the date March 18, 1967; four of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 145 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 16E, Line 105
- MYRON THOMAS GODDARDWarrant Officer 1 · March 18, 1967
- MICHAEL NEAL JOHNSONPrivate First Class · March 18, 1967
- KENNETH WILLIAM JURGENSCorporal · March 18, 1967
- JOHN HENRY WILLISStaff Sergeant · March 18, 1967
Same unit, same day
- MICHAEL FRANCIS SMITHSpecialist Four · Panel 16E, Line 107
From Concord
- EMIL ROGER ZISSSergeant · September 30, 1965
- RICHARD JOSEPH CALLANANCaptain · January 7, 1966
- FRANK LEE GONDERMANSpecialist Four · June 27, 1966
- WILLIAM H SCHEIDTSpecialist Four · June 28, 1966
- MICHAEL EUGENE MCCULLOUGHPrivate First Class · November 7, 1966
- ORVILLE BILL FRITSSergeant First Class · May 20, 1967
- DAVID NORTON PARKSPrivate First Class · June 24, 1967
- JAMES EDWARD FLICKINGERLance Corporal · October 11, 1967
- JOSEPH V SHERLOCK IIISpecialist Four · November 22, 1967
- WALTER R BOETTCHER JRSecond Lieutenant · December 6, 1967
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.