Donald Stephen Mihordin
Greenville, PA
U.S. Army – Vietnam
Donald Stephen Mihordin must have been an optimist. He married Carol Ann Kilgore on September 9, 1967, about a month after he had entered the Army. He had to have known that he would be going to Vietnam.
That happened on March 25, 1968, when he was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division’s Company D, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry on March 25, 1968. The Division was headquartered in Cu Chi, just northwest of Saigon. And that guaranteed that he would be involved in some serious combat.
The 25th Division had operational responsibility for Tay Ninh Province, just north of a portion of Cambodia that protrudes into Vietnam. That area of Cambodia provided a sanctuary in which Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units could gather supplies and troops to stage attacks into South Vietnam. Until late in the war, they could be certain that the American and South Vietnamese forces would not attack across the border into Cambodia.
Tay Ninh Province was intensely disputed throughout the war, especially after the NVA increased its use as an infiltration route during 1968. The fighting was unrelenting; making any break from it welcome, indeed. In the summer of 1968, Donald was able to go on R&R to Hawaii to visit his wife, Carol Ann.
Shortly after she returned home, she learned that Donald had been killed in action.
On November 26, 1968, Donald’s unit was engaged in a bitter fight about 3 kilometers southeast of Tay Ninh City. Before the day was out, 26 Americans were dead, including eighteen from the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry. One of those was Sp4 Mihordin from Sharon, mortally wounded in the neck when he triggered a land mine.
Donald never got to see his five-week-old son, Donald.
Donald had been born in Greenville to Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Mihordin. After graduating from Hickory High School in 1965, he attended Youngstown State University until he entered the Army.
He was survived by his parents, his wife Carol Ann, son Donald, sister Charlene, and brother Richard. He was preceded in death by another brother, Jack Mihordin.
Sp4 Mihordin was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Good Conduct Medal.
He was the 19th Mercer County serviceman killed in Vietnam. He is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park, which is now America’s Cemetery (SM).
On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W38 line 77