The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Ruben D Mercado-Gutierrez.

The Wall › Panel 56W › Puerto Rico › Ruben D Mercado-Gutierrez

RUBEN D MERCADO-GUTIERREZ

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

July 21, 1944 – June 19, 1968

Service record

Ruben D Mercado-Gutierrez, of Santurce, Puerto Rico, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on June 19, 1968, in Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 56W, Line 36 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 56W · Line 36

Position of Panel 56W 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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
July 21, 1944
Home of record
Santurce, Puerto Rico (Multiple County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 19, 1968
Age
23
Province
Gia Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

50 names on the Wall carry the date June 19, 1968; 15 of them were lost in Gia Dinh Province. In June 1968, 1,257 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 74 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 56W, Line 36

Same unit, same day

From Santurce

All 26 names from Santurce →

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.