The Wall › Panel 40E › Pennsylvania › John Michael Olszewski
JOHN MICHAEL OLSZEWSKI
Private First Class · U.S. Army
May 10, 1948 – February 20, 1968
Service recordJohn Michael Olszewski, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on February 20, 1968, in Phu Yen Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 46 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 46
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
- Regular
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- May 10, 1948
- Home of record
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 20, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Phu Yen
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
76 names on the Wall carry the date February 20, 1968; eight of them were lost in Phu Yen Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 24 of its members that month.
He died in Phu Yen Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 40E, Line 46
- DAVID LLOYD MOREHOUSEPrivate First Class · February 20, 1968
- VINCENT BERTRAM PARKHURSTSergeant First Class · February 20, 1968
- ROY BROWN PARSONSChief Warrant Officer 2 · February 20, 1968
- DONALD DEWAYNE PHILBECKPrivate First Class · February 20, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ISMAEL LAUREANO-LOPEZSpecialist Four · Panel 32W, Line 72
From Philadelphia
- MEIR ENGELLieutenant Colonel · December 16, 1964
- MATTHEW N HARRIS JRMaster Sergeant · May 28, 1965
- ALLEN CONRAD HERTZFirst Lieutenant · June 6, 1965
- MILO BENETT STIBBINSSpecialist Five · June 11, 1965
- JOSEPH PATRICK GRUGANCorporal · June 26, 1965
- ROWLAND JOSEPH ADAMOLICorporal · August 18, 1965
- FRANK AMOS HENISSPrivate First Class · September 7, 1965
- EARL CHARLES WILLOUGHBYChief Master Sergeant · September 7, 1965
- WILLIAM A MITCHELL IIPetty Officer Third Class · September 12, 1965
- WILLIAM GREGORY MAURONEPrivate First Class · September 30, 1965
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.