The Wall › Panel 40E › South Dakota › Robert Jan Bridges JR
ROBERT JAN BRIDGES JR
Petty Officer Second Class · U.S. Navy
January 5, 1943 – February 19, 1968
Service recordRobert Jan Bridges JR, of Mitchell, South Dakota, served as a Petty Officer Second Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 19, 1968, in North Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 18
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. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer Second Class (PO2)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Hospital Corpsman (HM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 3 MED BN 3 MARDIV
- Born
- January 5, 1943
- Home of record
- Mitchell, South Dakota (Davison County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 19, 1968
- Age
- 25
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
93 names on the Wall carry the date February 19, 1968. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 40E, Line 18
- ASHLAND FREDERICK BURCHWELLFirst Lieutenant · February 19, 1968
- ALEX LEROY BURGESSLance Corporal · February 19, 1968
- STEPHEN COHANWarrant Officer 1 · February 19, 1968
- TIMOTHY LYNN COLLIERSpecialist Four · February 19, 1968
From Mitchell
- RONALD JAMES TAYLORPetty Officer Third Class · December 10, 1969
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.