The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Cordell Joseph Ponak.

The Wall › Panel 16W › Michigan › Cordell Joseph Ponak

CORDELL JOSEPH PONAK

First Lieutenant · U.S. Army

October 6, 1946 – November 15, 1969

Service record

Cordell Joseph Ponak, of Prescott, Michigan, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 15, 1969, in Quang Duc Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 16W, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16W · Line 81

Position of Panel 16W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
First Lieutenant (1LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Unit (as recorded)
MACV ADVISORS
Born
October 6, 1946
Home of record
Prescott, Michigan (Ogemaw County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 15, 1969
Age
23
Province
Quang Duc
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

26 names on the Wall carry the date November 15, 1969; he was the only one lost in Quang Duc Province that day. In November 1969, 660 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 14 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 16W, Line 81

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.