The exact starting point of the Vietnam War remains a topic of ongoing debate among historians. Some trace its origins back to 1887, when Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina. Others argue the conflict began in 1946, as Ho Chi Minh launched a guerrilla struggle against French colonial rule. Another interpretation marks 1950 as the beginning, when the United States began providing major financial and military assistance to France.
For many years, however, the U.S. government officially used 1961 as the war’s start date for casualty records. As a result, service members like Air Force Tech. Sgt. Richard Fitzgibbon Jr.—killed in 1956—were not included in the formal tally of war deaths. After a long campaign by his family, the Department of Defense ultimately changed the recognized start date to November 1, 1955, allowing earlier losses, including Fitzgibbon’s, to be properly acknowledged.
Richard Fitzgibbon Jr.’s untimely death
Richard Fitzgibbon Jr. was born on June 21, 1920, in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and went on to serve his country in two branches of the U.S. military. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II, later transitioning to the Air Force, where he rose to the rank of technical sergeant. Assigned to the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Vietnam, he was responsible for training South Vietnamese pilots in combat skills.
On June 8, 1956, Fitzgibbon was working as a crew chief when his aircraft came under fire. Amid the turmoil, he clashed with Staff Sgt. Edward C. Clarke but remained steady enough to instruct the radio operator to continue the mission.
That night, Clarke—still upset over the confrontation—drank heavily in Saigon. Intoxicated and agitated, he crossed paths with Fitzgibbon, who happened to be handing out candy to neighborhood children, and shot him with his sidearm. As Vietnamese authorities attempted to apprehend him, Clarke either fell or jumped from a second-story balcony, a fall that ended his life.
Not classified as a casualty of the Vietnam War
Richard Fitzgibbon Jr. died during the Vietnam War era, but at the time, his death wasn’t officially linked to the conflict. His family was heartbroken by the loss, and his son, Richard Fitzgibbon III, later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps to serve in Vietnam. Tragically, he was killed in 1965 after stepping on a landmine.
Their deaths represent one of only three known instances where both a father and son were killed in the Vietnam War.
In 1988, a relative named Richard DelRossi visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. He was able to find the name of Richard Fitzgibbon III on the wall, but not that of Fitzgibbon Jr. This was because, at the time, the memorial only included names of those who died after 1961—the year the Department of Defense had designated as the war’s official start.
Richard Fitzgibbon Jr.’s family advocates for a change
After returning home, Richard DelRossi shared his father’s story with the rest of the family, and together they launched a petition to have Tech. Sgt. Richard Fitzgibbon Jr.’s name added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Their efforts stretched almost a decade, but despite their persistence, they made little progress.
In 1997, their luck changed when they visited a traveling replica of the memorial and met U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA). Deeply moved by the family’s account, Markey—who would later become a U.S. Senator—took up their cause. Although he encountered bureaucratic resistance, he remained committed. His determination paid off: the Department of Defense revised the official start date of the Vietnam War to November 1, 1955, coinciding with the establishment of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Vietnam.
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Finally, on Memorial Day in 1999, the Fitzgibbon family stood before the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as Richard Fitzgibbon Jr.’s name was officially added—honoring the sacrifice they had long fought to have recognized.