The Wall › Panel 14E › Pennsylvania › John Lester Wilhelm
JOHN LESTER WILHELM
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
May 4, 1926 – January 21, 1967
Service recordJohn Lester Wilhelm, of Berlin, Pennsylvania, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on January 21, 1967, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 40. His name is inscribed on Panel 14E, Line 65 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 14E · Line 65
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.
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- May 4, 1926
- Home of record
- Berlin, Pennsylvania (Somerset County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- January 21, 1967
- Age
- 40
- Province
- Binh Duong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
27 names on the Wall carry the date January 21, 1967; eight of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In January 1967, 638 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 79 of its members that month.
He died in Bình Dương Province while Operation Cedar Falls was under way. Operation Cedar Falls (8–26 January 1967) sent some 30,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into the “Iron Triangle” northwest of Saigon to destroy Viet Cong base areas and tunnels. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 14E, Line 65
- MANUEL VAILLIDO TREVINOCorporal · January 21, 1967
- LOUIS JOHN WANDLERSpecialist Four · January 21, 1967
- CHARLES MICHAEL YATESPrivate First Class · January 21, 1967
- RAYMOND PETER ALBIETZCorporal · January 22, 1967
Same unit, same day
- FUIFUITAUA AMISONEStaff Sergeant · Panel 14E, Line 7
- STEVEN DAVID FRANCISPrivate First Class · Panel 14E, Line 62
- JIMMY DALE HESSONSpecialist Four · Panel 14E, Line 63
- WILLIAM ARCHIE JONES JRPrivate First Class · Panel 14E, Line 63
- MANUEL VAILLIDO TREVINOCorporal · Panel 14E, Line 65
- CHARLES MICHAEL YATESPrivate First Class · Panel 14E, Line 65
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.