The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966.
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966. Photo: PH1 V.H. McColley, U.S. Navy, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Valentin George Matula.

The Wall › Panel 8E › Texas › Valentin George Matula

VALENTIN GEORGE MATULA

Commander · U.S. Navy

October 5, 1923 – July 20, 1965

Service record

Valentin George Matula, of Hallettsville, Texas, served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy. He died on July 20, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 41. His name is inscribed on Panel 8E, Line 84 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 8E · Line 84

Position of Panel 8E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Commander (CDR)
Service
Regular
Unit (as recorded)
7 FLT
Born
October 5, 1923
Home of record
Hallettsville, Texas (Lavaca County)

Casualty

Date of death
July 20, 1965
Age
41
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

Nine names on the Wall carry the date July 20, 1965. In July 1965, 103 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “7 FLT”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 8E, Line 84

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.