United States of America
Headstone of Karen J. Wagner
U.S. Army · United States United States

Karen J. Wagner

Lieutenant Colonel
1961 – 2001
Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel Karen J. Wagner served the Office of the Army Surgeon General and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel for 18 years. Karen was 40 years old.

How They Died
Manner Homicide
Cause Multiple traumatic injuries
Place Virginia
What Happened
Killed at the Pentagon on the morning of 11 September 2001, when American Airlines flight 77 struck the western face of the building at 9:37. A hundred and twenty-five people inside and fifty-nine aboard the aircraft were killed.
Biography
Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army - medical personnel officer in the Office of the Army Surgeon General and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, a promotion she had received the month before.

She grew up in a military family in San Antonio, played guard for the women's basketball team at Nevada-Las Vegas and came out of its ROTC programme in 1984, and took a master's in health services administration in 1992.

She was adjutant of the 85th Medical Evacuation Hospital at Fort Lee, executive officer and company commander of D Company in the 187th Medical Battalion at Fort Sam Houston, and chief of personnel for the 57th Evacuation Hospital at Würzburg, and ran the personnel services branch at Walter Reed.

Seventeen years in, she was sketching out a second act. She watched the Food Network and ran to clear her head, and she and her sister talked about retiring at the same time - teaching in Texas first and then abroad, or a cooking programme together. Her sister said: her shtick was baking, mine was cooking.

Her sister also said: she never met a stranger. She was the kind of person who, when you met her, would never forget you - she'd talk to you like she'd known you forever.
Survivors
Her sister Kim.
Keepsakes
Karen J. Wagner
Karen J. Wagner
Service Record
U.S. Army
Office of the Army Surgeon General and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel
1984 – 2001
Memorials
National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Line 1961
National September 11 Memorial Panel 74W · Line 5 cut as Karen J. Wagner
Also Remembered
September 11, 2001 — The Pentagon
In Our Keeping
Permanent identifier neuraspine_01m2f2d2asfsz5f7tp9s1e3354
Record added September 14, 2026 neuraweb.nw
Stewarded by neuraweb.nw
Last updated September 21, 2026

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