The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Matthew Higgins.

The Wall › Panel 16E › Pennsylvania › Matthew Higgins

MATTHEW HIGGINS

Private First Class · U.S. Army

February 15, 1946 – March 14, 1967

Service record

Matthew Higgins, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 14, 1967, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 16E, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16E · Line 78

Position of Panel 16E 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

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Medical Equipment Repairer (91A)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
February 15, 1946
Home of record
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 14, 1967
Age
21
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

40 names on the Wall carry the date March 14, 1967; 16 of them were lost in Kon Tum 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.

Also on Panel 16E, Line 78

Same unit, same day

From Philadelphia

All 622 names from Philadelphia →

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.