Rank: Sergeant
Unit: A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11C – Indirect Fire Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 22-Dec-1946
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Marital status: Married to Elizabeth A. Wakefield
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 26-Jun-1967
Start of tour: 13-Jan-1970
Incident date: 25-Mar-1970
Date of casualty: 25-Mar-1970
Age at death: 23
Cause of death: Non-hostile, died of other causes. Other Accident. Other accident.
Joseph Wakefield Jr was killed while at an artillery firing position when a mortar round detonated prematurely. / Squad leader at fire support base (FSB). Firing H&I mission with mortar. A round exploded inside the tube.
Three Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP4 Walter Eugene Andrews Jr
SP4 Floyd Burnett Coates
SGT Joseph Wakefield Jr
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 098 768
Place of interment: New Trinity Baptist Church Cemetery, Wellford, South Carolina, USA
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