The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972.
A mother and child are evacuated from Kon Tum to Pleiku during the Easter Offensive, 4 May 1972. Photo: 1LT Stacy Stewart, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Joseph Stegeland III.

The Wall › Panel 1W › New York › John Joseph Stegeland III

JOHN JOSEPH STEGELAND III

Seaman · U.S. Navy

March 27, 1951 – April 20, 1972

Service record

John Joseph Stegeland III, of Canajoharie, New York, served as a Seaman in the U.S. Navy. He died on April 20, 1972, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 1W · Line 4

Position of Panel 1W 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. Navy
Rank
Seaman (SN)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Radioman (RM)
Born
March 27, 1951
Home of record
Canajoharie, New York (Montgomery County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 20, 1972
Age
21
Province
Binh Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

Five names on the Wall carry the date April 20, 1972; he was the only one lost in Bình Định Province that day. In April 1972, 106 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in Bình Định Province while the Easter Offensive was under way. On 30 March 1972, North Vietnam launched its largest offensive since 1968, attacking across the DMZ, toward An Lộc and into the Central Highlands. By then few U.S. ground troops remained; American advisers and air power fought alongside the South Vietnamese.

Also on Panel 1W, Line 4

From Canajoharie

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.