Joseph “Joe” John Kull Jr.
SP/4 – U.S. Army
4th Inf Div 2nd Bde LRRP
04 March 1949 – 06 September 1968
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Panel 45W Line 54
MILITARY DATA
Service: Army (Selective Servie)
Grade at loss: E4
Rank: Specialist Four
ID Number: 11864408
MOS: 11B20: Infantryman
Len Svc: 1 – 2 years
Unit: 4 INF DIV, 2nd Bde LRRP
CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour: 03/27/1968
Cas Date: 09/06/1968
Age at Loss: 19
Remains: Body recovered
Location: Darlac Province, South Vietnam
Type: Hostile, died outright
Reason: Gun, small arms fire
AWARDS
Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Vietnam Campaign
Medal, Vietnam Service Medal
GRAVESITE
Philadelphia National Cemetery, Pennsylvania
PFC Kull was accepted into the 2nd Bde LRRPs at LZ Oasis by CO Cpt. Garnett and Platoon Sergeant Armin Blake in mid-April 1968, shortly after he had arrived in-country.
Throughout the month of May he was trained by a number of experienced team leaders, and spent June and July on missions in the Oasis AO. He then went to the 4th Division’s RECONDO School at Camp Enari, returned to the Oasis, and was promoted to SP/4.
In August 1968, the 2nd Bde LRRPs moved to Ban Me Thuot, a new AO close to the Cambodian border and enemy infiltration routes. In September, SP/4 Kull, with 13 missions under his belt, was promoted to Assistant Team Leader of “Hotel-2-Charlie,” led by TL Dennis Ahrendsen, and sent out on a mission operating in Buon Trap map sheet 6634-IV, Grid Square AQ8931. On the team, were three new LRRPs.
On 06 September 1968, at 1800 hours, Team “Hotel-2-Charlie,” while looking to set up for a night location, was ambushed by an unknown sized force of VC. Kull and Ahrendsen were killed instantly by AK-47 fire from about five meters away. Another LRRP was wounded in the attack.
The remainder of the team managed to escape with the two bodies, and was extracted shortly thereafter.
4th Division Operational Report, Camp Enari, September 1968, after death of Kull and Ahrendsen
2nd Brigade Ceremony in Ban Me Thuot for Kull and Ahrendsen, September 1968
Link to Remembrances:
https://www.thewall-usa.com/guest.asp?recid=29046
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/29008/JOSEPH-J-KULL-JR
Barry Hoehn Writes
Dennis Ahrendsen ran a number of missions as a fellow team member and was a close friend. Sorry I cannot locate any pictures of Joe Kull as he too was a friend and killed on the same mission. These brave men were as fine as any serving in the 2nd BDE LRRPS during the war. KIA 6th September 1968.
The Philadelphia Inquirer – September 11, 1968
A Green Beret infantryman from Nicetown has been killed in action in Vietnam, the Defense Department reported Tuesday.
SP/4 Joseph J. Kull, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kull, 4147 Reese St.
SP/4 Kull wrote his mother in a letter received Monday that he had completed 13 missions “and the last three had no-action.”
Mrs. Kull was taking the letter from the mailbox, she said, when an officer appeared at the front gate, bearing the news of her son’s death. He was killed by small arms fire on September 6 during a night action.
SP/4 Kull joined the Army last September and was sent to Vietnam on March 22. A former student at Northeast Catholic High School, he worked briefly for the Triple A Trucking Co., 4100 E. Thompson St.
Also surviving is a sister, Mrs. Helen Keenan.
Article was taken from the Philadelphia Daily News of October 26, 1987.
The special supplement entitled ‘SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY,’ was published in conjunction with the dedication of the Philadelphia Viet Nam Memorial.
One of Philadelphia PA’s 630 fallen sons.
Kull worked briefly operating forklift trucks for the Triple A Trucking Co. on Thompson Street before he enlisted in the Army in September 1967. The specialist four, a rifleman, wrote his sister from Viet Nam that he sometimes did not know what he was fighting for in a “crazy, mixed-up war.” Kull,19, was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. He died on September 9, 1968.
Survivors included his parents and a sister. Kull was one of at least 11 young men from the Fishtown-Kensington-Port Richmond neighborhoods to die or be missing in action in Viet Nam. All are honored on the CPL Charles J. Glenn 3rd Memorial in Fishtown, dedicated in 1967 and one of the first memorials to Viet Nam veterans in the United States.
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