The Wall › Panel 45E › Iowa › Richard James Meighan
RICHARD JAMES MEIGHAN
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
February 4, 1944 – March 17, 1968
Service recordRichard James Meighan, of Sumner, Iowa, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 17, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 24. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 13 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 13
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. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Radio Teletype Operator (05C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- February 4, 1944
- Home of record
- Sumner, Iowa (Bremer County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 17, 1968
- Age
- 24
- Province
- Gia Dinh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
48 names on the Wall carry the date March 17, 1968; two of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 188 of its members that month.
He died in Gia Dinh Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 45E, Line 13
- DAVID LEE LIPSCOMBCorporal · March 17, 1968
- DONALD CHARLES MCNACPrivate First Class · March 17, 1968
- DAVID HOWARD MEALYPrivate First Class · March 17, 1968
- GEORGE FRANKLIN MYRICKHospitalman · March 17, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JIMMY RAY PIERCEPrivate First Class · Panel 45E, Line 14
- JOSEPH PAT STRIPPOLI JRPrivate First Class · Panel 45E, Line 15
From Sumner
- ALLEN JAMES AVERYPrivate First Class · February 14, 1966
- MYRON JEROME POOCKCaptain · July 22, 1968
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.