The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966.
A Navy Swift boat patrols the Long Tàu River to keep the channel to Saigon open, December 1966. Photo: PH1 V.H. McColley, U.S. Navy, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Joseph Donnelly III.

The Wall › Panel 9W › Pennsylvania › John Joseph Donnelly III

JOHN JOSEPH DONNELLY III

Seaman · U.S. Navy

October 20, 1949 – June 23, 1970

Service record

John Joseph Donnelly III, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served as a Seaman in the U.S. Navy. He died on June 23, 1970, in Phong Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 9W, Line 83 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 9W · Line 83

Position of Panel 9W 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

Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.

Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Seaman (SN)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Seaman (SN)
Born
October 20, 1949
Home of record
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 23, 1970
Age
20
Province
Phong Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

29 names on the Wall carry the date June 23, 1970; 11 of them were lost in Phong Dinh Province. In June 1970, 560 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Also on Panel 9W, Line 83

From Philadelphia

All 622 names from Philadelphia →

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.