The Wall › Panel 17E › South Carolina › John Willard Clary
JOHN WILLARD CLARY
Platoon Sergeant · U.S. Army
March 7, 1931 – March 29, 1967
Service recordJohn Willard Clary, of Gaffney, South Carolina, served as a Platoon Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 29, 1967, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 36. His name is inscribed on Panel 17E, Line 67 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 17E · Line 67
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Platoon Sergeant (PSG)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Combat Engineer (12B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 11 ARMORED CAV
- Born
- March 7, 1931
- Home of record
- Gaffney, South Carolina (Cherokee County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 29, 1967
- Age
- 36
- Province
- Tay Ninh
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
16 names on the Wall carry the date March 29, 1967; two of them were lost in Tây Ninh Province. In March 1967, 1,091 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “11 ARMORED CAV”, his unit in the record, lost 13 of its members that month.
He died in Tây Ninh Province while Operation Junction City was under way. Operation Junction City (22 February–14 May 1967), in War Zone C along the Cambodian border, was the largest U.S. operation of the war to that time and included the only major American combat parachute assault of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 17E, Line 67
- JOHN COYLESpecialist Four · March 29, 1967
- JAMES LEWIS FIELDSStaff Sergeant · March 29, 1967
- DAVID LEWIS GLASSCOCKSpecialist Four · March 29, 1967
- WILLIAM HADLEY HOSEACaptain · March 29, 1967
From Gaffney
- RICHARD L FOXXTechnical Sergeant · October 15, 1962
- WILLIAM CLARK PETTYSergeant First Class · June 21, 1967
- JOHN ROBERT ALLISONPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
- SAMUEL EDWARD FOSTERSergeant · March 24, 1968
- WARREN LESTER RUTLANDSergeant · October 4, 1968
- JAMES ALBERT SPENCER JRSpecialist Four · April 21, 1969
- JOHN SHEPARD REAVES JRSergeant · July 8, 1969
- EDWARD DECAMP SOSSAMONSergeant · April 16, 1970
- JOHNNY LEWIS DOVER JRSpecialist Four · June 5, 1970
- ROBERT LAWRENCE BLACKWELLPrivate First Class · December 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.