The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Joe Roger Melczek.

The Wall › Panel 50E › Kentucky › Joe Roger Melczek

JOE ROGER MELCZEK

Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps

February 11, 1947 – April 16, 1968

Service record

Joe Roger Melczek, of Insko, Kentucky, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on April 16, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 50E, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 50E · Line 18

Position of Panel 50E 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. Marine Corps
Rank
Lance Corporal (LCPL)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
February 11, 1947
Home of record
Insko, Kentucky (Morgan County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 16, 1968
Age
21
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

74 names on the Wall carry the date April 16, 1968; 50 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 50E, Line 18

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.