The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Melvin Joseph Owczarczak.

The Wall › Panel 45W › New York › Melvin Joseph Owczarczak

MELVIN JOSEPH OWCZARCZAK

Second Lieutenant · U.S. Army

August 23, 1943 – September 1, 1968

Service record

Melvin Joseph Owczarczak, of Buffalo, New York, served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He died on September 1, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 45W, Line 19 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 45W · Line 19

Position of Panel 45W 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
Second Lieutenant (2LT)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Field Artillery Unit Commander (1193)
Unit (as recorded)
101 AIRBORNE DIV
Born
August 23, 1943
Home of record
Buffalo, New York (Erie County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 1, 1968
Age
25
Province
Thua Thien
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

28 names on the Wall carry the date September 1, 1968; three of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In September 1968, 1,184 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 90 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 45W, Line 19

Same unit, same day

From Buffalo

All 151 names from Buffalo →

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.