The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Joseph James Polasek JR.

The Wall › Panel 28W › Michigan › Joseph James Polasek JR

JOSEPH JAMES POLASEK JR

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

March 25, 1947 – March 30, 1969

Service record

Joseph James Polasek JR, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 30, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 28W, Line 93 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 28W · Line 93

Position of Panel 28W 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

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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Armor Crewman (11E)
Unit (as recorded)
5 INF DIV MECH
Born
March 25, 1947
Home of record
Kalamazoo, Michigan (Kalamazoo County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 30, 1969
Age
22
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

38 names on the Wall carry the date March 30, 1969; three of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “5 INF DIV MECH”, his unit in the record, lost 31 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 28W, Line 93

Same unit, same day

From Kalamazoo

All 39 names from Kalamazoo →

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.