The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of John Robert Rankin.

The Wall › Panel 16W › New Jersey › John Robert Rankin

JOHN ROBERT RANKIN

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

July 22, 1948 – November 15, 1969

Service record

John Robert Rankin, of Blackwood Terrace, New Jersey, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 15, 1969, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 16W, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 16W · Line 81

Position of Panel 16W 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
Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded)
AMERICAL DIV
Born
July 22, 1948
Home of record
Blackwood Terrace, New Jersey (Gloucester County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 15, 1969
Age
21
Province
Quang Tin
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

26 names on the Wall carry the date November 15, 1969; two of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In November 1969, 660 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The Americal Division, his unit in the record, lost 14 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 16W, Line 81

Same unit, same day

From Blackwood Terrace

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.