The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967.
UH-1 helicopters of the 1st Cavalry Division skim the coastline near Chu Lai, October 1967. Photo: PFC Franklin G. Nickerson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Edward Klingen.

The Wall › Panel 18W › New York › John Edward Klingen

JOHN EDWARD KLINGEN

First Lieutenant · U.S. Army

September 30, 1947 – September 4, 1969

Service record

John Edward Klingen, of Northport, New York, served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on September 4, 1969, in Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 18W, Line 33 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 18W · Line 33

Position of Panel 18W 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
First Lieutenant (1LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Air Observation Pilot (1981)
Unit (as recorded)
1 AVN BDE
Born
September 30, 1947
Home of record
Northport, New York (Suffolk County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 4, 1969
Age
21
Province
Bien Hoa
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

23 names on the Wall carry the date September 4, 1969; eight of them were lost in Bien Hoa Province. In September 1969, 664 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Aviation Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 35 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 18W, Line 33

Same unit, same day

From Northport

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.