The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Michael Joseph Thielen.

The Wall › Panel 53W › Florida › Michael Joseph Thielen

MICHAEL JOSEPH THIELEN

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

December 2, 1946 – July 5, 1968

Service record

Michael Joseph Thielen, of Moore Haven, Florida, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on July 5, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 53W, Line 24 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 53W · Line 24

Position of Panel 53W 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Combat Engineer (12B)
Born
December 2, 1946
Home of record
Moore Haven, Florida (Glades County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 5, 1968
Age
21
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

53 names on the Wall carry the date July 5, 1968; four of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In July 1968, 993 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 53W, Line 24

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.