Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge Charles McMahon ( May 10 , 1953 – April 29 , 1975 ) and Darwin Lee Judge ( February 16 , 1956 – April 29 , 1975 ) were the last two United States servicemen killed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War . The two men , both U . S . Marines , were killed in a rocket attack one day before the Fall of Saigon . Charles McMahon , 11 days short of his 22nd birthday , was a corporal from Woburn , Massachusetts . Darwin Judge was a 19 - year - old lance corporal and Eagle Scout from Marshalltown , Iowa . Deaths . McMahon and Judge were members of the Marine Security Guard ( MSG ) Battalion at the US Embassy , Saigon and were providing security for the DAO Compound , adjacent to Tân Sơn Nhứt Airport , Saigon . McMahon had arrived in Saigon on 18 April , while Judge had arrived in early March . Both died in a North Vietnamese rocket attack on Tân Sơn Nhứt on the morning of April 29 , 1975 . In accordance with procedures for deceased Americans in Vietnam , their bodies were transferred to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital , nearby Tan Son Nhut . In telephone calls to the hospital on the afternoon of April 29 , the few remaining staff advised that the bodies had been evacuated ; in fact the bodies were left behind . Operation Frequent Wind , the American evacuation of Saigon was completed the following day , April 30 , 1975 . Senator Edward M . Kennedy of Massachusetts , through diplomatic channels , secured the return of the bodies the following year . Judge was given Marine burial honors 25 years later ; retired USMC Lieutenant Colonel Jim Kean , the commanding officer of the Marines during the Fall of Saigon , presented a flag to Judge ' s parents . The Fall of Saigon Marines Association , a California non - profit , public benefit corporation , was formed to honor the last two Marines to be killed in action in Vietnam . The association sponsors two $ 500 scholarships for Eagle Scouts attending Marshalltown High School in Marshalltown , Iowa ( as a memorial to Eagle Scout Judge ) . First and last American casualties in Vietnam . The first U . S . casualty in Vietnam was Flying Tiger John T . Donovan who was killed on May 12 , 1942 , but American involvement in Vietnam was not considered official at that time and as such his name does not appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . For over 40 years the first person who died in Vietnam was in controversy . Richard B . Fitzgibbon , Jr . ' s death in June 1956 was deemed to have taken place before the start of the Vietnam War . However , the family of Fitzgibbon had long lobbied to have the start date changed and their cause was taken up by U . S . Representative Ed Markey of Malden ( D - 7th District ) . After a high level review by the DoD and through the efforts of Fitzgibbon ' s family , the start date of the Vietnam war was changed to November 1 , 1955 . The November 1955 date was chosen as the new start date because that was when the Military Assistance Advisory Group ( MAAG ) , Vietnam was separated out from MAAG , Indochina in a reorganization into the different countries that the deployments were stationed . With this new date Fitzgibbon became the first person to die in the Vietnam War , Fitzgibbon ' s name was added to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in 1999 . The former first two official casualties were U . S . Army Major Dale R . Buis and Master Sergeant Chester Charles Ovnand who were killed on July 18 , 1959 . While McMahon and Judge were the last American ground casualties in Vietnam , they are not the last casualties of the Vietnam War ( a term which also covers the U . S . involvement in Cambodia and Laos ) recorded on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ; those names belong to the 18 Americans killed in the Mayaguez Incident .