Mangino, Thomas Angelo
Army Staff sergeant

Thomas Angelo Mangino from Alliance, Ohio, Stark county. Their last known residence was in Alliance.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: April 21, 1967
Death details:  On April 21, 1967, two groups of four Americans each were aboard two sampans (small wooden boats) on the Tra Bong River near Quang Ngai Province making a return trip from a forward combat patrol. During the journey, the first sampan developed a leak, and the boat accelerated around a peninsula in order to reach shore as fast as possible; however, this broke visual contact between the two boats. The first sampan reached shore and waited for the second sampan, but it never appeared. The second sampan was last seen being escorted by a group of Vietnamese fishermen. Immediate searches of the area were unsuccessful in locating the missing boat or the four men who were aboard it. Extensive dives in the river and aerial searches were conducted in the days following the disappearance but were similarly unsuccessful.

Staff Sergeant Thomas Angelo Mangino entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and served in Company A, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. He was aboard the second sampan when it went missing, and attempts to locate him or his remains following the incident were unsuccessful. Today, Staff Sergeant Mangino is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency