Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 67A – Aircraft Maintenance Apprentice
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit awards: Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 12-Jun-1948
Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Start of tour: 7-Jul-1967
Incident date: 6-Mar-1968
Date of casualty: 6-Mar-1968
Age at death: 19
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
John B. Shank died from wound received while on combat operation when attacked by hostile force. / (Individual transported to 7th Surgical Hospital, Blackhorse base camp, Long Giao.)
Five Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
PFC Charles Henry Batozynski
SP4 Jerry Allen Beatty
SP4 Floyd McFadden
SP4 John Bernard Shank
CPT Gregory Kent Whitehouse
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam, YS 433 943*
Place of interment: Rosehill Cemetery, Menlo, Iowa, USA
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