Decorations register · Notice Nearby
No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the decoration and the writing, not an invented face.
John A. Guldan
1950–1970
Squad Leader (Marine Corps; VA #VeteranOfTheDay)
U.S. Marine Corps; Marine squad leader commanding 21 Marines in Quang Nam; Operation Lyon Valley and Operation Catawba Falls; killed by enemy booby trap at Bich Nam near Hill 55, 3 Aug 1970
Documented decorations
Purple Heart
VA #VeteranOfTheDay (21 Sep 2020) states Guldan posthumously received a Purple Heart. Do not invent an oak-leaf count.
Public sources
Bronze Star Medal
VA #VeteranOfTheDay states a posthumous Bronze Star Medal (with Combat Action Ribbon also named). Do not invent a Combat “V” or oak-leaf count.
Public sources
John A. Guldan’s Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart are named in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ #VeteranOfTheDay profile of his Marine service in Vietnam. This decorations page records those two types from that VA sentence. The Combat Action Ribbon named alongside them is not re-badged on the decorations row. No Combat “V” or oak-leaf count is invented.
Born in May 1950 and raised in a large Chicago family, Guldan left college to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1969 after watching Vietnam casualty counts climb. Deployed in 1970, he was appointed squad leader over twenty-one Marines in Quang Nam and served in Operations Lyon Valley and Catawba Falls. On 3 August 1970 an enemy booby trap killed him near Hill 55 at Bich Nam; he was twenty. The Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart are the published decoration names here.
This name is not yet on a war-roll essay. The decorations above are the documented public record this register will stand on until that essay is written.
A publisher register — not a verification
This decorations register is publisher-curated from public records — Medal of Honor Society citations, published general orders, and official Army, Navy, and Marine Corps biographies. It is not a verified-veteran product. Notice Nearby does not certify service and does not issue badges.
A paid or unpaid memorial does not enroll anyone here. Checkout, VET50, and a family’s mention of service on an obituary are not applications to this list. We add a name only when a public official source names the decoration.
Claiming a decoration that was not awarded is stolen valor. It is a disrespect to those who earned the medal and, in some cases, a federal crime. This register will not invent an award to fill a page.
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