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 Wayne Held.

The Wall › Panel 50E › Indiana › John Wayne Held

JOHN WAYNE HELD

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force

July 8, 1936 – April 17, 1968

Service record

John Wayne Held, of Indianapolis, Indiana, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on April 17, 1968, in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 50E, Line 29 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 50E · Line 29

Position of Panel 50E 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. Air Force
Rank
Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Pilot (1115Z)
Unit (as recorded)
604 ACS
Born
July 8, 1936
Home of record
Indianapolis, Indiana (Marion County)

Casualty

Date of loss
April 17, 1968
Province
Phuoc Long
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

54 names on the Wall carry the date April 17, 1968; he was the only one lost in Phuoc Long Province that day. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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 50E, Line 29

From Indianapolis

All 204 names from Indianapolis →

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.