The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Edward Kerns.

The Wall › Panel 5E › Ohio › John Edward Kerns

JOHN EDWARD KERNS

Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 7, 1931 – February 20, 1966

Service record

John Edward Kerns, of North Bend, Ohio, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on February 20, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 34. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5E · Line 56

Position of Panel 5E 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Radio Teletype Operator (05C)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
October 7, 1931
Home of record
North Bend, Ohio (Hamilton County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 20, 1966
Age
34
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

24 names on the Wall carry the date February 20, 1966. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 123 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 5E, Line 56

Same unit, same day

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.