GRANIELA, JOSE ANTONIO JR.

Name: Jose Antonio Graniela, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Co.D, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 22 June 1944
Home City of Record: Brentwood NY
Date of Loss: 16 August 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 161733N 1071104E
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1251
Other Personnel In Incident: none missing

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS:  PFC Graniela was a rifleman in Delta Company, 327th Infantry,
101st Airborne Division.  At 1100 hours on August 16, Graniela was on a
combat operation with his platoon when they began receiving intense
automatic weapons fire.  All members of the platoon immediately took cover.
Graniela was hit in the leg with several rounds of small arms fire.  After
calling for help, he went into shock.  A tourniquet was applied to his leg
and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was administered, but to no visible avail.
Several members of the platoon believed that Graniela died at that time.

Because of intense hostile fire, the remains could not be recovered at that
time without the platoon receiving more casualties, and a return to the area
was impossible.  The following day, the area was bombarded by air strikes
and artillery.  Nothing was ever recovered that could be associated with
Graniela.

PFC Graniela is listed with honor among the missing because no remains were
found.  His case seems clear.  For others who are listed missing, resolution
is not as simple.  Many were known to have survived their loss incident.
Quite a few were in radio contact with search teams and describing an
advancing enemy. Some were photographed or recorded in captivity.  Others
simply vanished.

Reports continue to mount that we left hundreds of Americans in enemy hands
when we left Southeast Asia.  Their abandonment makes the deaths of nearly
60,000 of America's finest young men a frivolous waste.  We must bring these
men home.
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