The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967.
A soldier of the 4th Infantry Division secures a landing zone, October 1967. Photo: SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Wayne Austin Decker.

The Wall › Panel 57W › Indiana › Wayne Austin Decker

WAYNE AUSTIN DECKER

Private First Class · U.S. Army

March 20, 1948 – June 13, 1968

Service record

Wayne Austin Decker, of Elkhart, Indiana, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on June 13, 1968, in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 57W, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 57W · Line 8

Position of Panel 57W 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
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
198 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
March 20, 1948
Home of record
Elkhart, Indiana (Elkhart County)

Casualty

Date of death
June 13, 1968
Age
20
Province
Quang Ngai
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

48 names on the Wall carry the date June 13, 1968; ten of them were lost in Quảng Ngãi Province. In June 1968, 1,257 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 198th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 27 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 57W, Line 8

From Elkhart

All 17 names from Elkhart →

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.