The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
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 Ronald Edmond Galvin.

The Wall › Panel 16E › Illinois › Ronald Edmond Galvin

RONALD EDMOND GALVIN

Chief Petty Officer · U.S. Navy

June 20, 1941 – March 8, 1967

Service record

Ronald Edmond Galvin, of River Forest, Illinois, served as a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on March 8, 1967, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 16E, Line 40 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16E · Line 40

Position of Panel 16E 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Chief Petty Officer (CPO)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Aviation Electronics Technician (AT)
Unit (as recorded)
VAH 4
Born
June 20, 1941
Home of record
River Forest, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 8, 1967
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

18 names on the Wall carry the date March 8, 1967. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “VAH 4”, his unit in the record, lost 3 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.

Also on Panel 16E, Line 40

Same unit, same day

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.