Mario Gonsalez

The database page for Mario Gonsalez

07 Aug 2006 Mario was born to Barbarita Pineda and Santiago Gonsalez in San Angelo, Texas. He attended San Angelo schools and was drafted into the U.S. Army in the winter of 1968. He was killed by an errant 105mm artillery shell that landed in the middle of his platoon while on night laager on March 5, 1970. He was posthumously promoted to Corporal. He is remembered by the Concho Valley Vietnam Memorial and by the Permian Basin Vietnam Veterans' Memorial located in Midland, Texas. May his sacrifice not be forgotten. From a PBVVM representative, Billy M. Brown 4015 Melody Lane, Odessa, Texas 79762 bmbrown@grandecom.net

23 Dec 2006 I can confirm that an errant 105 round fired from LZ Professional killed Mario Gonzalez, Bruce Klingaman and Miguel Garcia. I knew Mario (Speedy) and Bruce (Klink) very well when I was medic with Charlie Company. Miguel Garcia came in country after my time in the field with Charlie and I didn't know him. It was a friendly fire incident. The round was fired by B 1/14 Arty. I was in Chu Lai when it happened. Klink and I came into the battalion on the same day. He should have been clearing the battalion for DEROS like me, but he had extended so that he could ETS upon DEROS. In those days, if you had less than five months left in your enlistment upon returning to the states, you were ETS'ed rather than being assigned someplace for such a short time. It was common for soldiers to extend their Vietnam tours, usually 30 days was enough, in order to qualify for ETS upon return to CONUS. Alan Johnson Missoula, Montana missoulakid@yahoo.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall C Company, 1/46th Infantry, lost three men on 05 March 1967: CPL Miguel R. Garcia, Auburndale, FL; CPL Mario Gonsalez, San Angelo, TX; and SP4 Bruce D. Klingaman, Elizabeth, NJ. Their casualty records are not coded for a "friendly fire" incident, and The Virtual Wall can neither confirm nor deny that Cpl Gonsalez was killed by "an errant 105mm artillery shell".

The point-of-contact for this memorial is a PBVVM representative, Billy M. Brown 4015 Melody Lane, Odessa, Texas 79762 bmbrown@grandecom.net

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 07 Aug 2006
Last updated 02/23/2007