SFC George Kendra, 36 Crystal Ridge Native
Killed In S. Vietnam

   The 30th serviceman from the Greater Hazleton Area to lose his life in the Vietnam Conflict was identified yesterday as . Sergeant First Class George Kendra, a native of Crystal Ridge, now a resident of 228 Naples Terrace, Bronx, N.Y.
   Word of his death on Oct. 30 was received yesterday by his stepmother, Mrs. Helen Kendra, Crystal Ridge, through a telephone call from the deceased soldier's wife, the former Helen Salerno in the Bronx.
   Sgt Kendra, who served with Company A of the 508th Infantry, 82nd Aviation Bn., was born in Crystal Ridge on Dec. 14, 1932. He attended Transfiguration Parochial School and Hazelton Township High School. He enlisted in the Army immediately after leaving high school and served four years before returning to civilian life and a job in Delaware.
   Two years later he reenlisted in the Army and had a total of 17 years of active service at the time of his death. The 36-year-old soldier spent a year in Vietnam and returned to the United States in early 1967. He was recalled to duty in Vietnam on Aug. 15 of this year. Ten weeks later he was killed. He visited his step-mother and his brothers and sister in Crystal Ridge in July.
   While a resident of West Hazleton and Crystal Ridge he was a member of Transfiguration Church
  . Besides his wife, he leaves three small children, Nancy, 8; Christopher, 6, and Stephen, 4, all in the Bronx; his step-mother, and two brothers and a sister, Robert, John and Geraldine, all of Crystal Ridge. He also leaves four nieces and a nephew.
   No details were available on funeral rites. Prayers for the deceased serviceman were offered yesterday during the masses in Transfiguration Church.

[Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, PA, 04 Nov 1968, Mon, Main Edition, Page 1]

[courtesy of 'michaeljohnto']

Grave marker for Sfc George J. Kendra in Plot T, 1378, Long Island National Cemetery, East Farmingdale (Suffolk county), New York.

George was assigned to 82nd Airborne Division, 508th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, A Company.

On 30 October 1968, Sfc Kendra  was killed in Gia Dinh, Ho Chi Minh Municipality, Vietnam by Gunshot or Small Arms Fire

Sfc Kendra is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Panel 40W - Line 58.