The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Robert Painter JR.

The Wall › Panel 3W › Massachusetts › John Robert Painter JR

JOHN ROBERT PAINTER JR

Lieutenant · U.S. Navy

March 15, 1945 – June 18, 1971

Service record

John Robert Painter JR, of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He died on June 18, 1971, in North Vietnam, at age 26. His name is inscribed on Panel 3W, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 3W · Line 81

Position of Panel 3W 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
Lieutenant (LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Url Pilot (1315)
Unit (as recorded)
VAQ130 USS ORISKANY CVA 34
Born
March 15, 1945
Home of record
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (Dukes County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 18, 1971
Age
26
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

Eight names on the Wall carry the date June 18, 1971. In June 1971, 181 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “VAQ130 USS ORISKANY CVA 34”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.

The record places this loss in North Vietnam, outside South Vietnam — most often the sign of an air crew lost over the North or the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 3W, Line 81

Same unit, same day

From Vineyard Haven

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.