The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969.
Marine UH-1Es at Fire Support Base Cunningham during Operation Dewey Canyon, January 1969. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Curtis Shields.

The Wall › Panel 17W › Oklahoma › James Curtis Shields

JAMES CURTIS SHIELDS

Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps

February 19, 1949 – October 9, 1969

Service record

James Curtis Shields, of Kiowa, Oklahoma, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on October 9, 1969, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 17W, Line 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 17W · Line 58

Position of Panel 17W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

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Service

Branch
U.S. Marine Corps
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Rifleman (0311)
Born
February 19, 1949
Home of record
Kiowa, Oklahoma (Pittsburg County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 9, 1969
Age
20
Province
Quang Tri
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

39 names on the Wall carry the date October 9, 1969; nine of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In October 1969, 600 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

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On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 17W, Line 58

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.