The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Johnny Wayne Wanamaker.

The Wall › Panel 46E › Tennessee › Johnny Wayne Wanamaker

JOHNNY WAYNE WANAMAKER

Corporal · U.S. Army

June 17, 1948 – March 26, 1968

Service record

Johnny Wayne Wanamaker, of Nashville, Tennessee, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on March 26, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 46E, Line 43 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 46E · Line 43

Position of Panel 46E 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
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
June 17, 1948
Home of record
Nashville, Tennessee (Davidson County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 26, 1968
Age
19
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

87 names on the Wall carry the date March 26, 1968; 20 of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.

He died in Kon Tum Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

Also on Panel 46E, Line 43

Same unit, same day

From Nashville

All 92 names from Nashville →

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.