Staff Sgt. Paul David Savanuck
Memorial Library

The Defense Information School dedicated its library in 2003 to the memory of Army Staff Sgt. Paul David Savanuck, a Baltimore native and military photojournalist, who died in 1969 while covering the war in Vietnam.

A journalism major at the University of Maryland, Savanuck enlisted in the Army in 1967 and attended DINFOS at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana from October 1967 to December 1967. He was first assigned to a missile base in West Germany. However, feeling a call to do more, Savanuck persistently volunteered for duty in Vietnam, and on June 29, 1968 he began his tour. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 23rd Artillery Group at Phi Loi, Vietnam and served as section chief. Acting as field correspondent, publicist and photographer for his division, his articles and photographs were widely used by the national and international news services. 

He volunteered seven times within a six month period to work for Stars and Stripes, and was accepted and reported for duty April 4, 1969.

Just two weeks later, on the night of April 18, 1969 Savanuck was camped with an armored cavalry unit that was attacked by North Vietnamese Army forces. Unarmed and aiding other wounded soldiers, Savanuck was killed along with twelve others that night. He was 23. Savanuck was posthumously promoted to Staff Sergeant and awarded a Bronze Star Medal for valor and a Purple Heart.

In 1971 the Maryland Jewish War Veterans (JWV), formed a new post, Number 888, in honor of Savanuck. Post Number 888 now has over seventy-five members.

The United States Army created the Paul D. Savanuck Journalist of the Year Award in 1975. 

The Savanuck family has made donations to the DINFOS Library since 1980 when a special book collection on photojournalism was founded in his honor. The collection has grown to 780 volumes. On July 18, 2003 the Defense Information School dedicated its library in his memory.

Savanuck once wrote, "I shall not be content with anything less than what is true. I intend to be the best."