A gas turbine engine combustor has forward bulkhead extending between inboard and outboard walls and cooperating therewith to define a combustor interior volume or combustion chamber. At least one of the walls has an exterior shell and an interior shell including a number of panels. Each panel has interior and exterior surfaces and a perimeter having leading and trailing edges and first and second lateral edges. A number of cooling passageways have inlets on the panel exterior surface and outlets on the panel interior surface. The shell has a plurality of holes for directing air to a space between the shell and heat shield and adapted for preferentially directing said air toward leading edge portions of first stage vanes of a turbine section.