The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A Navy corpsman treats a wounded Marine of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in Huế, February 1968.
A Navy corpsman treats a wounded Marine of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in Huế, February 1968. Photo: Sgt. William F. Dickman, USMC, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Walter John Gelien.

The Wall › Panel 3E › California › Walter John Gelien

WALTER JOHN GELIEN

Chief Petty Officer · U.S. Navy

August 18, 1930 – October 28, 1965

Service record

Walter John Gelien, of Oakland, California, served as a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy. He died on October 28, 1965, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 35. His name is inscribed on Panel 3E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3E · Line 1

Position of Panel 3E 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
Hospital Corpsman (HM)
Unit (as recorded)
7 FLT
Born
August 18, 1930
Home of record
Oakland, California (Alameda County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 28, 1965
Age
35
Province
Quang Nam
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

18 names on the Wall carry the date October 28, 1965; five of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In October 1965, 236 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Also on Panel 3E, Line 1

From Oakland

All 98 names from Oakland →

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.