The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Jose Luis Fontanez-Velez.

The Wall › Panel 12E › Puerto Rico › Jose Luis Fontanez-Velez

JOSE LUIS FONTANEZ-VELEZ

Private · U.S. Army

May 19, 1943 – November 4, 1966

Service record

Jose Luis Fontanez-Velez, of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, served as a Private in the U.S. Army. He died on November 4, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 12E, Line 20 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 12E · Line 20

Position of Panel 12E 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
Private (PVT)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
May 19, 1943
Home of record
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico (San Juan County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 4, 1966
Age
23
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

49 names on the Wall carry the date November 4, 1966. In November 1966, 641 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 101 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 12E, Line 20

Same unit, same day

From Rio Piedras

All 33 names from Rio Piedras →

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.