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 Roger Ryan JR.

The Wall › Panel 38W › Illinois › John Roger Ryan JR

JOHN ROGER RYAN JR

Corporal · U.S. Army

December 30, 1946 – November 27, 1968

Service record

John Roger Ryan JR, of Bellwood, Illinois, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on November 27, 1968, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 38W, Line 78 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 38W · Line 78

Position of Panel 38W 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
Corporal (CPL)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
December 30, 1946
Home of record
Bellwood, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 27, 1968
Age
21
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

61 names on the Wall carry the date November 27, 1968; 33 of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 96 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 38W, Line 78

Same unit, same day

From Bellwood

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.