Technical Sergeant
Technical sergeant is the name of two current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States Armed Forces, as well as in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Outside the United States, it is used only by the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force and the ...
Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr.,
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
(June 21, 1920 – June 8, 1956) was the first American to die in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. He was murdered by another American airman on June 8, 1956. Through the efforts of his sister Alice Fitzgibbon Rose DelRossi, a former
Stoneham, Massachusetts selectwoman, Fitzgibbon's name was added to the
Vietnam War Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...
on Memorial Day in May 1999.
Following in his father's footsteps, Richard B. Fitzgibbon III joined the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
and also served in Vietnam, where he was killed in September 1965. The Fitzgibbons' deaths were the first of only three instances among all U.S. casualties in which both father and son were killed in the Vietnam War.
Biography
Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. was born on June 21, 1920, in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Fitzgibbon was a veteran of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, having served during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. After leaving the Navy, he joined the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
, rising through the ranks to become a
Technical Sergeant
Technical sergeant is the name of two current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States Armed Forces, as well as in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Outside the United States, it is used only by the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force and the ...
. Fitzgibbon was serving as part of the
Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) (Detachment 1, 1173rd Foreign Mission Squadron),
which was involved in training military personnel in
South Vietnam.
Fitzgibbon was not killed in action, but rather was murdered in
Saigon by another American airman,
Staff Sergeant Edward C. Clarke. On the day he was shot, Fitzgibbon had apparently reprimanded Clarke for an incident on a flight that day. When Clarke went off duty, he began drinking heavily at a club at the base. When he exited the club, he saw Fitzgibbon across the street playing with some local children and giving out candy. Clarke drew his sidearm and shot Fitzgibbon several times. Clarke fled the shooting scene and exchanged fire with Vietnamese policemen who were chasing him. During the pursuit, Clarke jumped or fell to his death from a second-story balcony. Fitzgibbon died from his wounds on June 8, 1956.
Recognition
For 43 years, Fitzgibbon's death was regarded by the United States government as too early to be classified as a Vietnam War casualty. The Department of Defense (DoD) directorate that handled the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...
originally started its database at January 1, 1961.
This was because
President Lyndon B. Johnson had declared in a speech that
Army Security Agency
The United States Army Security Agency (ASA) was the United States Army's signals intelligence branch from 1945 to 1976. The Latin motto of the Army Security Agency was ''Semper Vigiles'' (Vigilant Always), which echoes the declaration, often ...
technician Spec/4 James T. Davis, who died in a Viet Cong ambush near the village of Cau Xang on December 22, 1961, was "the first American killed in the resistance to aggression in Vietnam."
Fitzgibbon's family lobbied to have the start date changed, and their cause was taken up by U.S. Representative
Ed Markey
Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representa ...
(D, 7th District, MA) of
Malden, Massachusetts.
After a high-level review by the DoD, the start date of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was changed to November 1, 1955,
the creation date of the Vietnam Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG).
With this new date, Fitzgibbon became chronologically the first person to be listed on the memorial, preceding
Harry Griffith Cramer Jr.,
Dale R. Buis and
Chester M. Ovnand. Fitzgibbon's name was added to the Vietnam Memorial Wall on May 31, 1999, and ''
Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
'' host
Katie Couric
Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...
interviewed members of his family for the occasion.
The DoD had previously moved the date of the start of the Vietnam War to include the death of Captain Cramer, who was killed at
Nha Trang
Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...
in a training accident on October 21, 1957. His name was added to "The Wall" in 1983, after successful efforts by his son, Lt. Col. Harry G. Cramer III
USAR, then an active-duty Army officer, to get DoD to acknowledge his father's death, as well as the presence of MAAG forces in Vietnam years prior to the officially recognized date of 1961. Lt. Col. Cramer asked that his father's name simply be added to the center (1E) stone, out of sequence, but it is still clearly listed in the chronological book at "The Wall" as 1957, not 1959. The Army conducted an official ceremony in October 2007 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, from which Capt. Cramer had graduated, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Army's first Vietnam casualty.
Although Fitzgibbon is chronologically the first casualty on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, he was not the first American to be killed in Vietnam. Lieutenant Colonel
Albert Peter Dewey was mistakenly shot and killed during an ambush by
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
troops on September 26, 1945, in the early aftermath of World War II.
Family
One of Fitzgibbon's sons, Marine
Lance Corporal
Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...
Richard B. Fitzgibbon III (March 11, 1944 – September 7, 1965), was also killed in the Vietnam War.
Both father and son are interred at Blue Hill Cemetery in
Braintree, Massachusetts
Braintree (), officially the Town of Braintree, is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a towBraintree is a city, with a mayor-council government, mayor-council form of government, and ...
.
He is survived by his wife Eunice Fitzgibbon Jackson and daughters Trudy McDermott and Linda Compas (whose son is American football player
Jonathan Compas
Jonathan Compas (born January 9, 1986) is a former American football center. He was signed by the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2009 after playing college football at UC Davis.
Compas has also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ...
). Another son, Robert "Bobby" Fitzgibbon, died in April 2011.
Through Fitzgibbon's great-grandmother, Mary Coston Fitzgibbon, Fitzgibbon was third cousin to
South African artist
Jeremy Wafer.
Documentary
In 1998–2000,
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
and
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
co-produced a documentary series called ''Vietnam: The Soldiers' Story''. The concluding episode, titled "Stories from the Wall", aired May 29, 2000, a year after Fitzgibbon's name was added to the Vietnam Memorial. The episode included a segment on the father and son.
See also
*
Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge – the last American ground casualties in Vietnam
Bibliography
;Notes
;References
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External links
Vietnam Wall memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgibbon, Richard B.
United States Air Force non-commissioned officers
1920 births
1956 deaths
American military personnel killed in the Vietnam War
United States Navy personnel of World War II
United States Navy sailors
People from Weymouth, Massachusetts
People murdered in Vietnam
American people murdered abroad
Military personnel from Massachusetts
1950s murders in Vietnam
1956 crimes in Vietnam
1956 murders in Asia
Deaths by firearm in Vietnam
United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War