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Remember...John William Wilt Jr.
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John William Wilt Jr. was born on August 14, 1946, at Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia. His parents were John William Wilt Sr. and Betty Smith Wilt (later Mathis). The family resettled in Newburg, Preston County, where he grew up with siblings Richard, Debra Lynn, and Sheila. After a few years at Newburg High School and after his parents' divorce, he visited his mother, who had moved to Texas. He enrolled at La Marque High School, but on his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.
By mid-1965, he was in Okinawa, Japan, training, knowing he would soon be in Vietnam. His unit was tasked with defending an airfield southeast of Da Nang. Wilt was a rifleman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment (3/9). In January of 1966, he had been promoted to the rank of lance corporal. On March 26, 1966, while he and three others were cleaning their weapons, the Viet Cong attacked their outpost. The 3rd Battalion's after-action report indicates they were killed "while engaged in action against hostile forces."
For a more detailed biography of L/Cpl. John William Wilt Jr., visit his biography page, written by Torrie Cayton and Chloe Saltis, at the West Virginia National Cemeteries Project, courtesy of the West Virginia Humanities Council: https://wvhumanities.org/wp-content/national_cemeteries/Wilt_John_William_Jr.pdf
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
