The Wall › Panel 6E › Minnesota › Melvin Thomas Krech
MELVIN THOMAS KRECH
Petty Officer First Class · U.S. Navy
December 2, 1931 – April 6, 1966
Service recordMelvin Thomas Krech, of Marine-On-St-Croix, Minnesota, served as a Petty Officer First Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on April 6, 1966, in North Vietnam, at age 34. His name is inscribed on Panel 6E, Line 89 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 6E · Line 89
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. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer First Class (PO1)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Aviation Machinist's Mate (AD)
- Unit (as recorded)
- VAH 4 USS ENTERPRISE CVAN 65
- Born
- December 2, 1931
- Home of record
- Marine-On-St-Croix, Minnesota (Washington County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 6, 1966
- Age
- 34
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
17 names on the Wall carry the date April 6, 1966. In April 1966, 406 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “VAH 4 USS ENTERPRISE CVAN 65”, 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 6E, Line 89
- DENNIS PHILIP COOKLieutenant · April 6, 1966
- JAMES WAYNE GATESLieutenant Colonel · April 6, 1966
- JAMES PETER HARTEAUPrivate First Class · April 6, 1966
- DONALD RAY JOHNSONPrivate First Class · April 6, 1966
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.