The Wall › Panel 47E › California › Walter Roderick Riggs
WALTER RODERICK RIGGS
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
December 28, 1947 – March 31, 1968
Service recordWalter Roderick Riggs, of Moorpark, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 31, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 47E · Line 26
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assaultman (0351)
- Born
- December 28, 1947
- Home of record
- Moorpark, California (Ventura County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 31, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
52 names on the Wall carry the date March 31, 1968; 30 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên 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.
Also on Panel 47E, Line 26
- EZEKIEL PAIGESergeant · March 31, 1968
- JESUS AQUININGO QUIDACHAYSpecialist Four · March 31, 1968
- JAMES ROBERT RETZLOFF JRConstructionman · March 31, 1968
- RICKEY LEE RICHARDSPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
From Moorpark
- CHARLES EDWARD MOORE JRSpecialist Four · July 8, 1968
- TONY PALACIOSSpecialist Four · April 8, 1969
- ARNOLD FALCON GARCIAPrivate First Class · July 14, 1969
- STEVEN G SKELLYSpecialist Four · November 13, 1969
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.