Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr.

Who was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr.?

Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. was the first person to lose his life in the conflict that would later be known as the Vietnam War. He was killed by another U.S. airman. The United States Air Force Technical Sergeant died on June 8, 1956. Through the efforts of his sister, Alice Fitzgibbon Rose DelRossi, Fitzgibbon's name was added to the Vietnam War Memorial in 1999. Following his father's footsteps, Richard B. Fitzgibbon III joined the United States Marine Corps and also served in Vietnam, where he too was killed in September 1965. The Fitzgibbon deaths are one of only three amongst US casualties in which both father and son were killed in the Vietnam War.