Janis Abolins

Janis “John” Abolins was born in Germany and a 17 year resident of Des Moines and a graduate of Dowling Catholic High School in the class of 1967. He joined the Marine Corps following high school and was deployed to Southeast Asia in August 1968. PFC Abolins had been in Vietnam five months and had been wounded in a previous incident before being killed on January 4, 1969. His death was attributed to multiple fragmentation wounds sustained when a hostile mine detonated while his unit was north of Khe Sanh Airfield. The 19-year-old was remembered at Saint Peters Catholic Church and he was buried at Glendale Cemetery, both in Des Moines.