The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968.
Marines use an M48 tank as cover in the street fighting in Huế, 4 February 1968. Photo: SSgt Jack L. Harlan, USMC, CC BY 2.0. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Vernon Zigman Johns.

The Wall › Panel 37E › Maryland › Vernon Zigman Johns

VERNON ZIGMAN JOHNS

Sergeant First Class · U.S. Army

December 23, 1942 – February 3, 1968

Service record

Vernon Zigman Johns, of Baltimore, Maryland, served as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army. He was lost on February 3, 1968, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 5 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 37E · Line 5

Position of Panel 37E 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. Army
Rank
Sergeant First Class (SFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
December 23, 1942
Home of record
Baltimore, Maryland (Baltimore (City) County)

Casualty

Date of loss
February 3, 1968
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Declared Dead
Circumstance
Unknown
First reported
Captured / prisoner of war

Context · from the records

What was happening

71 names on the Wall carry the date February 3, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.

He died in Bình Dương Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.

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 37E, Line 5

Same unit, same day

From Baltimore

All 419 names from Baltimore →

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.