Remember...
John Wesley Valentine
1947-1968
"We are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free."
Ronald Reagan
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Remember...John Wesley Valentine
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John W. Valentine was born February 27, 1947, in Denver, Preston County, West Virginia. His mother was Serena Rebecca Jane Knight (1930-1995) and his father was James Wilbert Valentine (1909-1978). His siblings were Gerald Allen Valentine ("Jerry," 1946-2008), Sherman Ray Valentine (1949-1949), Lena Belle Valentine (1951-2016), and Laura Pearl Valentine ("Sue"). John attended Fellowsville Elementary School for eight years and went on to Bruceton High School, but he dropped out as soon as possible after enrolling.
During the early years of his life, John and his siblings were removed from their parents, their mother deemed inadequate and their father blind, to a series of foster homes. Because he had no close family other than his siblings, John instead found a substitute in the form of the Army, in which he enlisted on March 22, 1965.
The Vietnam War was a terrible experience, no matter what role someone would take. Started as a way to protect democracy from the rising influence the Communist Soviet Union was displaying over Northern Vietnam, the war ended up having little beneficial effect on both the U.S. and Vietnam itself. Many resisted the war and protested against it, saying that it was unnecessary, and others resisted the draft. Out of all who served in the war, 36,578 West Virginians served, with 1,182 casualties. (Jeffrey M. Leatherwood, "Vietnam War," e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, 5 November 2010, accessed 31 January 2023, http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/869.)
| Private John Valentine received his basic training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, in addition to other training. During his stay at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, he was reported to be Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) multiple times. During one of these, he married Diana Sue Lewis on May 12, 1967, at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. His tour in Vietnam started on September 9, 1968. John was assigned to Bravo Company, 70th Engineer Battalion, 937th Engineer Group, 18th Engineer Brigade, U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam Engineer Command. His military occupation specialty (MOS) was 12A10, pioneer (combat engineer). ("Valentine, John Wesley, PFC," TogetherWeServed website, accessed 31 January 2023, https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=AssignmentExt&ID=541910.) |  |
After being assigned to Bravo Company, John and his comrades in arms moved through a series of bases, eventually ending up working on wired fences and culverts and building new roads in order to establish a new basecamp. This assignment lasted from September 13 to October 9, 1968. After this, Bravo Company was moved to a strategic defensive position, along with other platoons, in order to provide engineering support.
The 70th Engineer Battalion was part of Operation MacArthur, which was a U.S. Army military operation conducted by the 4th Infantry Division in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam from October 1967 to January 1969. The division was responsible for the defense of the provincial and district capitals that lay along National Highway QL-14, an interprovincial paved road that ran north to south through the middle of the Central Highlands. The general mission was to conduct surveillance and offensive operations along the Cambodian border and destroy North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong units within the assigned area of operations. The 70th Engineer Battalion was moved to Engineer Hill at Pleiku, Republic of Vietnam, at the beginning of MacArthur to provide engineer support for tactical operations. On October 12, 1968, B Company engineers were bivouacked in an area along National Highway QL-21, approximately 18 miles northeast of Ban Me Thout. At 8:00 p.m., they received sniper fire from an estimated squad of Viet Cong. One engineer, Pvt. John W. Valentine, was killed. The engineers returned fire with unit weapons; enemy casualties were unknown. Valentine had been in country less than a month. He was posthumously promoted to private first class. (Information regarding the Vietnam War and John W. Valentine's military career summarized from "Valentine, John Wesley," The Coffelt Database of Vietnam Casualties, accessed 31 January 2023, http://www.coffeltdatabase.org/detreq2.php, and Dorothy Bonafield Snyder, "John Wesley Valentine," Not to Be Forgotten: Prestonians Who Died in Vietnam, 1965-1970 [Dover, DE: 2001].)
John's body was recovered and returned to the U.S., where he was buried in Taylor-Sines Cemetery in Oakland, Garrett Country, Maryland.
John Wesley Valentine will always be remembered as he is memorialized at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on Panel 41W, Line 55, and at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, West Virginia. Pfc. Valentine received the following awards and commendations: the Purple Heart, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. ("John Wesley Valentine," The Virtual Wall website, updated 15 August 2019, accessed 31 January 2023, https://virtualwall.org/dv/ValentineJW01a.htm.)
Article prepared by Joseph Chapman, George Washington High School JROTC
January 2023
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.