The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Robert Joseph Panek SR.

The Wall › Panel 14W › Illinois › Robert Joseph Panek SR

ROBERT JOSEPH PANEK SR

Lieutenant Colonel · U.S. Air Force

June 10, 1939 – November 5, 1969

Service record

Robert Joseph Panek SR, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on November 5, 1969, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 14W, Line 76 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 14W · Line 76

Position of Panel 14W 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. Air Force
Rank
Lieutenant Colonel (LTCOL)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Electronic Warfare Officer (1575Z)
Born
June 10, 1939
Home of record
Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of loss
November 5, 1969
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

19 names on the Wall carry the date November 5, 1969. In November 1969, 660 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The record places this loss in North Vietnam, outside South Vietnam — most often the sign of an air crew lost over the North or the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

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.

Also on Panel 14W, Line 76

From Chicago

All 955 names from Chicago →

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.