The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Raymond Schaaf.

The Wall › Panel 50E › Minnesota › John Raymond Schaaf

JOHN RAYMOND SCHAAF

Private First Class · U.S. Army

April 2, 1947 – April 16, 1968

Service record

John Raymond Schaaf, of St Paul, Minnesota, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on April 16, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 50E, Line 21 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 50E · Line 21

Position of Panel 50E 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
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
April 2, 1947
Home of record
St Paul, Minnesota (Ramsey County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 16, 1968
Age
21
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

74 names on the Wall carry the date April 16, 1968; 50 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 134 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 50E, Line 21

From St Paul

All 132 names from St Paul →

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.