The Wall › Panel 42E › Florida › Roy Clinton Gerdon
ROY CLINTON GERDON
Private First Class · U.S. Army
August 13, 1947 – March 2, 1968
Service recordRoy Clinton Gerdon, of Tampa, Florida, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 2, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 42E, Line 32 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 42E · Line 32
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
- Born
- August 13, 1947
- Home of record
- Tampa, Florida (Hillsborough County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 2, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
100 names on the Wall carry the date March 2, 1968; ten of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 104 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 42E, Line 32
- RAYMOND LEROY GALLAGHERPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- WILBUR LEWIS GRAY JRPrivate First Class · March 2, 1968
- RUSSELL CARL HAASSpecialist Four · March 2, 1968
- JOSE RODRIGUEZ-ACEVEDOCorporal · March 2, 1968
Same unit, same day
- RUSSELL CARL HAASSpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 32
- CLARENCE S HILLSSergeant · Panel 42E, Line 34
- TODD ARTHUR HANDYSpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 40
- ERWIN BRUCE SIMSPrivate First Class · Panel 42E, Line 41
From Tampa
- THOMAS ISAAC LEDBETTERCaptain · June 19, 1964
- HENRY JOSEPH GALLANTMaster Sergeant · July 13, 1965
- JOHN BELL JRLance Corporal · August 18, 1965
- ERICH SIMKAITISSpecialist Five · September 9, 1965
- LAURENCE MICHAEL KINGCorporal · September 28, 1965
- MACK CECIL COXSergeant · November 17, 1965
- GUY HECTOR MCCAREYMajor · November 27, 1965
- RICHIE HUMES SCHMITTLance Corporal · December 9, 1965
- JOHNNIE GRANTSpecialist Four · February 7, 1966
- ISIAH FOSTERLance Corporal · March 23, 1966
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.