Wilt, John W

John Wilt

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, Company L

Place of Birth:

Grafton, West Virginia

Date of Birth:

August 14th, 1946

Place of Death:

Vietnam

Date of Death:

March 26th, 1966

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

John William Wilt Jr was born on August 14, 1946 in Grafton, West Virginia. His father, John Sr., was a World War II Veteran, and young John decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. On his 18th birthday, without finishing high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a rifleman to serve in the Vietnam War. He enlisted with the rank of Lance Corporal in Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines. 

The 3rd Battalion's after-action report indicates he was killed "while engaged in action against hostile forces." That was on March 26, 1966. Wilt was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Purple Heart, and Vietnam Campaign Medal.

John is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall in Washington DC, Panel 06e, Line 52. He was first buried in the Stones River National Cemetery in plot Q-6704. However, he was dis-interred in 1988 and reinterred in the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia to plot 1,0,1730.

Tags: stones river national battlefield, stones river national cemetery, vietnam war