The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Walter Alan Cichon.

The Wall › Panel 47E › New Jersey › Walter Alan Cichon

WALTER ALAN CICHON

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

August 28, 1946 – March 30, 1968

Service record

Walter Alan Cichon, of Farmingdale, New Jersey, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He was lost on March 30, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 9 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 47E · Line 9

Position of Panel 47E 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
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
August 28, 1946
Home of record
Farmingdale, New Jersey (Monmouth County)

Casualty

Date of loss
March 30, 1968
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Unknown
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

58 names on the Wall carry the date March 30, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 68 of its members that month.

He died in Kon Tum Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

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 47E, Line 9

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.