The Wall › Panel 3E › Minnesota › John Stephen Michel
JOHN STEPHEN MICHEL
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
November 18, 1946 – August 24, 1965
Service recordJohn Stephen Michel, of Richfield, Minnesota, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 24, 1965, in South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 3E, Line 59 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 3E · Line 59
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Freight Operations Clerk (3111)
- Born
- November 18, 1946
- Home of record
- Richfield, Minnesota (Hennepin County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 24, 1965
- Age
- 18
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — Passenger (MC)
- Incident
- Airplane Crash Hong Kong To Danang Vs
Context · from the records
What was happening
61 names on the Wall carry the date August 24, 1965. In August 1965, 179 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in South Vietnam while Operation Starlite was under way. Operation Starlite (18–24 August 1965), on the Van Tuong peninsula south of Chu Lai, was the first regimental-size U.S. ground battle of the war. Marines attacked the 1st Viet Cong Regiment by helicopter, amphibious landing and on foot. The record gives the date and branch of service but not the exact place.
Also on Panel 3E, Line 59
- NEIL A KROGERSecond Lieutenant · November 15, 1965
- DOUGLAS HORACE LEACHSpecialist Four · November 15, 1965
- ROBERT LEE LEWISSpecialist Four · November 15, 1965
- ROY LOCKHARTStaff Sergeant · November 15, 1965
- WILLIAM BROOKS MITCHELLSpecialist Four · November 15, 1965
From Richfield
- WALTER STONEMAN BROWNLance Corporal · July 22, 1966
- WAYNE H KELMANCorporal · January 4, 1968
- RICHARD EARL WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · April 5, 1968
- WILLIAM GEORGE HULWI JRSergeant · April 16, 1968
- ROBERT WILLIAM TUSKEY SRSpecialist Four · October 10, 1968
- ROGER JAMES MCINERNY JRPrivate First Class · April 1, 1970
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.