The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Ellsworth Quam.

The Wall › Panel 15E › Iowa › John Ellsworth Quam

JOHN ELLSWORTH QUAM

Private First Class · U.S. Army

December 13, 1946 – February 16, 1967

Service record

John Ellsworth Quam, of Mason City, Iowa, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 16, 1967, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 15E, Line 50 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 15E · Line 50

Position of Panel 15E 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
December 13, 1946
Home of record
Mason City, Iowa (Cerro Gordo County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 16, 1967
Age
20
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

80 names on the Wall carry the date February 16, 1967; 46 of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In February 1967, 767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 107 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 15E, Line 50

Same unit, same day

From Mason City

All 17 names from Mason City →

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.