The Wall › Panel 39E › Illinois › Rodolfo Deleon
RODOLFO DELEON
Private First Class · U.S. Army
March 30, 1948 – February 14, 1968
Service recordRodolfo Deleon, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 14, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 30 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 30
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. Army
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- March 30, 1948
- Home of record
- Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 14, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
71 names on the Wall carry the date February 14, 1968; 20 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 39E, Line 30
- FRANK PHILIP CAPUANOCorporal · February 14, 1968
- BEN ELMORE CAUSEY JRCorporal · February 14, 1968
- LOWELL THOMAS COMBSCorporal · February 14, 1968
- JEHU JUNIS COX JRPrivate First Class · February 14, 1968
Same unit, same day
- HAROLD L BEGODYSpecialist Four · Panel 39E, Line 28
- WILLIAM BLAKELYPrivate First Class · Panel 39E, Line 29
- LARRY WILBERT ELLIOTTSpecialist Four · Panel 39E, Line 31
- ALBERT ALLEN TIPPETTSpecialist Four · Panel 39E, Line 40
From Chicago
- MELVIN LESTER WATERSPrivate · February 10, 1965
- WILLIAM RALPH FUHRMANPetty Officer Third Class · April 23, 1965
- RAYMOND LEON HORNCorporal · May 1, 1965
- ARTHUR C JEPSON JRCaptain · May 16, 1965
- DONALD CLAY DEDMONStaff Sergeant · June 10, 1965
- ROGER PELIKANLance Corporal · July 17, 1965
- HARRY COHENTechnical Sergeant · July 19, 1969
- CURTIS LOCKHARTPrivate First Class · July 30, 1965
- EDWARD KOPECPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- JAMES LEO WHITELance Corporal · August 19, 1965
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.