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F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966.
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Randall John Nightingale.

The Wall › Panel 45E › Illinois › Randall John Nightingale

RANDALL JOHN NIGHTINGALE

Petty Officer Second Class · U.S. Navy

November 26, 1943 – March 17, 1968

Service record

Randall John Nightingale, of Onarga, Illinois, served as a Petty Officer Second Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on March 17, 1968, in North Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 14 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 45E · Line 14

Position of Panel 45E 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. Navy
Rank
Petty Officer Second Class (PO2)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Aviation Asw Technician (AX)
Unit (as recorded)
VS 23 USS YORKTOWN CVS 10
Born
November 26, 1943
Home of record
Onarga, Illinois (Iroquois County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 17, 1968
Age
24
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

48 names on the Wall carry the date March 17, 1968. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “VS 23 USS YORKTOWN CVS 10”, his unit in the record, lost 4 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

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 45E, Line 14

Same unit, same day

From Onarga

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.