The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Nelson Christan Swanker.

The Wall › Panel 57E › New York › Nelson Christan Swanker

NELSON CHRISTAN SWANKER

Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps

November 13, 1947 – May 9, 1968

Service record

Nelson Christan Swanker, of Ft Johnson, New York, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on May 9, 1968, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 57E, Line 34 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 57E · Line 34

Position of Panel 57E 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.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Lance Corporal (LCPL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Combat Engineer (1371)
Born
November 13, 1947
Home of record
Ft Johnson, New York (Montgomery County)

Casualty

Date of death
May 9, 1968
Age
20
Province
Quang Nam
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

127 names on the Wall carry the date May 9, 1968; three of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In May 1968, 2,418 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 57E, Line 34

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.