who was the first soldier killed in vietnam
Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. Technical Sergeant Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr. (June 21, 1920 â€“ June 8, 1956), USAF, was the first American to lose his life in the conflict that would later be known as the Vietnam War. He was murdered by another airman and died of his wounds later on June 8, 1956. Through the efforts of his sister and former selectwoman Stoneham, Massachusetts, Alice Fitzgibbon Rose DelRossi, Fitzgibbon's name was added to the Vietnam War Memorial on Memorial Day in May 1999.