Return To 148th Honor Roll

If you have any questions, additional biographical information, personal remembrances, or photographs you would like to contribute, please contact the 720th MP Battalion History Project Manager via this Email Link.

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PFC Joseph Francis Lodise, Jr.
148th MP Platoon, 92nd MP Battalion
89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade

Killed In Action ~ 1 May 1968 ~ Vietnam

They Say,
our deaths are not ours,
they are yours,
they will mean what
you make of them.

They say,
we leave you our deaths,
give them some
meaning.

Archibald MacLeish
poet and WWI
veteran.

There is no contact information on file for the next of kin.

   On 1 May 1968 PFC Joseph F. Lodise, Jr., age 20 of Philadelphia, PA, who had only been in country 113 days, volunteered to replace another member of a V100 crew as the turret gunner on an unscheduled run of "The Peoples Road" Highway 4.

   A Captain from Saigon was sent to the 148th MP Platoon to conduct an on site familiarization of the 148th mission in the Mekong Delta. The Platoon Leader 1LT Nicholson scheduled both V100’s to conduct the familiarization run. It would be PFC Lodise’s first and last V100 highway patrol.

       It was a rainy day and as the two V100’s traveled north from Vinh Long towards Cai Lai, the turret hatch was left open and rain water collected on the floor inside where the turret gunner stood. The familiarization patrol was uneventful until the two V100's came upon elements of the 9th Infantry Division engaged in a fire fight with a local Viet Cong force hidden in a tree line alongside the highway. The two V100’s came up on line to add their firepower to the infantry elements already engaged. When PFC Lodise engaged the electronic trigger mechanism to activate his twin 30 cal machine guns he was electrocuted.

        PFC Lodise was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. In  addition PFC Lodise also earned the National Defense Service Medal,   Vietnam Service Medal with one Campaign Star,   Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm.

--- General / Personal ---
Last name: LODISE
First name: JOSEPH FRANCIS JR
Home of Record (official): PHILADELPHIA
State (official): PA
Date of Birth: Sunday, September 14, 1947
Sex: Male
Race: Caucasian
Marital Status: Single

--- Military ---
Branch: Army
Rank: PFC
Serial Number: 52812088
Component: Selective Service
Pay grade: E3
MOS (Military Occupational Specialty code): 95B10

--- Action ---
Start of Tour: Monday, December 18, 1967
Date of Casualty: Wednesday, May 1, 1968
Age at time of loss: 20
Casualty type: (A1) Hostile, died
Reason: Other causes (Ground casualty)
Country: South VietNam
Province: Vinh Long
The Wall: Panel 53E - Row 036

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