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F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966.
F-105D Thunderchiefs refuel from a KC-135 on the way to North Vietnam, about 1966. Photo: U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert Charles McMahan.

The Wall › Panel 39E › Illinois › Robert Charles McMahan

ROBERT CHARLES MCMAHAN

Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy

June 14, 1942 – February 14, 1968

Service record

Robert Charles McMahan, of Jacksonville, Illinois, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on February 14, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 36 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 39E · Line 36

Position of Panel 39E 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. Navy
Rank
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
Service
Reserve / National Guard
Occupation
Url Pilot (1315)
Born
June 14, 1942
Home of record
Jacksonville, Illinois (Morgan County)

Casualty

Date of loss
February 14, 1968
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
First reported
Missing in action

Context · from the records

What was happening

71 names on the Wall carry the date February 14, 1968. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 39E, Line 36

From Jacksonville

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.