The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Robert Klapak JR.

The Wall › Panel 26W › Indiana › John Robert Klapak JR

JOHN ROBERT KLAPAK JR

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

November 18, 1948 – May 4, 1969

Service record

John Robert Klapak JR, of Whiting, Indiana, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on May 4, 1969, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 26W, Line 112 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 26W · Line 112

Position of Panel 26W 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
November 18, 1948
Home of record
Whiting, Indiana (Lake County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 4, 1969
Age
20
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

32 names on the Wall carry the date May 4, 1969; three of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 74 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 26W, Line 112

Same unit, same day

From Whiting

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.