PFC Vincent Giammarino

Vincent Giammarino was listed as Missing in Action on June 27, 1968.
On October 6, 1978 he was declared "died while missing".

Name: GIAMMARINO, VINCENT FRANK
Single Caucasian Male
Grade at loss: PFC E3
Rank: Sergeant First Class
Note: Promoted while in MIA status
Unit: Company C, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 4th Infantry Division
MOS: 11B40: Infantryman
DOB: 04/13/47
Age at Time of Loss: 21
Home of Record: New York, NY
Date of Loss: 06/27/68
Country: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 135131N 1081926E
Status: Missing in Action
Official Government Status: "Died while missing"

PFC Vincent Giammarino was a rifleman on a Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) patrol in the Pleiku area of South Vietnam.
Giammarino had departed on patrol and the unit was going to an area where they had previously encountered enemy contact.
Shortly after the patrol began, it was discovered that Giammarino was not with his unit, nor could he be located.
No enemy contact had been made during the patrol, but the possibility he was killed by a concealed enemy was considered,
as was the possibility of his capture, and also that he simply was lost. Thorough searches were made of the area
for the next 2 days without results. On the second day, an aircraft was employed using a loud speaker system,
but Giammarino (nor any body) was ever found. Giammarino was classified as Missing in Action.

On October 6, 1978, ten years after Vincent Giammarino went missing, he was officially declared dead
by the Adjutant General of the US Army, under Sections 555 & 556, Title 37, United States Code.

Vincent is also eligible to receive the Conspicuous Service Cross
from the State of New York

The following information and the picture were taken from the TASK FORCE OMEGA, INC Website.

GIAMMARINO, VINCENT FRANK

SYNOPSIS: In order to determine if a bombing attack on an enemy position was successful, a Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) mission
was conducted using either ground or air units depending in large part on the location of the target area.

Then Private First Class Vincent Giammarino was assigned as a rifleman to one such Bomb Damage Assessment patrol after his company was involved
in a firefight with an enemy force of unknown size the day before. The area of contact was located in the rugged jungle-covered mountains approximately
20 miles southeast of Pleiku, Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. After contact was broken off on 26 June, an air strike was called in
to neutralize enemy forces operating therein.

In the early morning hours of 27 June 1968, PFC Giammarino's BDA patrol was inserted into the area of previous contact. Because the patrol
was scattered out and unable to maintain visual contact with one another as they investigated the results of the strike mission, it was 0230 hours
before it was discovered that PFC Giammarino was no longer with his unit. An immediate search of the area was conducted by the remaining
patrol members. They found boot tracks believed to have been made by the missing rifleman. These tracks led back toward the patrol's base.
Unfortunately, the tracks were lost in the darkness.

At first light additional search teams were brought in and over the next two days thorough searches were made of the area. The boot-track trail
was picked up again, then lost in the rough terrain. On the second day, an aircraft-mounted loud speaker was used to try to reach the missing soldier
and assist him in rejoining his unit. During the initial BDA patrol and later searches for Vincent Giammarino, there was no additional enemy contact.
Likewise, the search teams found no trace of the Vincent Giammarino beyond those few trails they followed. At the time formal search efforts
were terminated, he was immediately listed Missing in Action.

Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received
by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.

Military men in Vietnam were called upon to fight in many dangerous circumstances, and each was prepared to be wounded, killed or captured.
It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country so proudly served.

Aerial map of the area in which
Vincent Giammarino went Missing In Action.

Red circle and arrow marks the location.

Loss Coordinates: 135131N 1081926E (BR109336)

Approximately 22 kilometers south/southeast
of Suoi Doi airfield.

Map by Eddieb from the Find A Grave website

The name of Vincent Frank Giammarino is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial,

The Honolulu Memorial is located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in an extinct volcano
("The Punchbowl") near the center of Honolulu, Hawaii.

On either side of the grand stairs leading to the memorial are eight Courts of the Missing on which are inscribed the names
of the 18,096 American World War II missing from the Pacific, excluding those from the southwest Pacific
(who are memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial), and 8,200 American missing from the Korean War.

Two half courts have been added at the foot of the staircase that contain the names of 2,504 Americans missing from the Vietnam War.
At the top of the stairs is a chapel flanked by galleries containing mosaic maps and descriptions of the achievements
of the American armed forces in the Central and South Pacific regions and in Korea.

(NOTE: Individuals memorialized here on the tablets do not have "grave markers" in the ground here.)
Individuals memorialized here on the tablets at the "Honolulu Memorial" are the Missing in Action, lost, or buried at sea
in the Pacific during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

The stone at the foot of the grand stairs.

Photo by Marnie Weeks

from the Find A Grave website

The central figure at the top of the grand stairs.

Photo by Judy Rediger

From the Find A Grave website

Memorial note:
Sgt Vincent Frank Giammarino is one of the many who made the ultimate sacrifice and are remembered
at the Honolulu Memorial, a cenotaph, an "empty tomb". Individuals memorialized here on the tablets
at the "Honolulu Memorial" are the Missing in Action, lost, or buried at sea in the Pacific during WWII,
the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Their remains were never recovered but their sacrifice
has not been forgotten by their country and this brother serviceman.

SSgt Bruce Almeida Ret USAF 100% Disabled Vet 1970's-1990's

Added by: Bruce & Debbie Almeida

The half court, known as Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Court B,
where the name of Vincent Giammarino is inscribed.

Top photo of Vincent Giammarino courtesy of Fred Childs Company C 1/22 Infantry 1967-1968