The Wall › Panel 5E › Missouri › Joseph Vaughn Murray
JOSEPH VAUGHN MURRAY
Lieutenant (junior grade) · U.S. Navy
October 29, 1941 – February 18, 1966
Service recordJoseph Vaughn Murray, of Chillicothe, Missouri, served as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 18, 1966, in North Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 48 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 5E · Line 48
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. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant (junior grade) (LTJG)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Url Pilot (1315)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VA 85 USS KITTY HAWK CVA 63
- Born
- October 29, 1941
- Home of record
- Chillicothe, Missouri (Livingston County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 18, 1966
- Age
- 24
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
30 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1966. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “VA 85 USS KITTY HAWK CVA 63”, 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
Also on Panel 5E, Line 48
- JAMES WESLEY MIZE JRSpecialist Four · February 18, 1966
- WILLIAM LYNN OAKLEYCorporal · February 18, 1966
- DOMINIC J PREIRA JRSpecialist Four · February 18, 1966
- WILLIAM CECIL RIGGPrivate First Class · February 18, 1966
Same unit, same day
- THOMAS ANTHONY SCHROEFFELLieutenant (junior grade) · Panel 5E, Line 49
From Chillicothe
- DAVID WAYNE UTLEYPrivate First Class · February 22, 1966
- ROBERT DEWAYNE MCCOWNPrivate First Class · November 19, 1966
- THOMAS EDWARD BONDERERSergeant · May 1, 1968
- KENNETH GENE EWINGSpecialist Four · November 22, 1969
- GARY HAROLD GARNERPrivate First Class · January 6, 1970
- GERRY DON COULTSpecialist Four · July 22, 1971
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.