The Wall › Panel 39E › New York › James David McAlister
JAMES DAVID MCALISTER
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
November 13, 1947 – February 16, 1968
Service recordJames David McAlister, of Binghamton, New York, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 16, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 68 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 68
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.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assaultman (0351)
- Born
- November 13, 1947
- Home of record
- Binghamton, New York (Broome County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 16, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
61 names on the Wall carry the date February 16, 1968; 27 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 39E, Line 68
- VALENTINE BERNARD VOLLMERSpecialist Four · February 16, 1968
- ALEXANDER KEARNEY WARDCaptain · February 16, 1968
- CORDELL EMANUEL WOODSLance Corporal · February 16, 1968
- HAROLD WAYNE ABBOTTPrivate First Class · February 17, 1968
From Binghamton
- LAWRENCE GEORGE BROWNLance Corporal · December 4, 1965
- JOHN MONKSPrivate First Class · January 27, 1966
- LAWRENCE EVERETT JOHNSONPetty Officer Third Class · March 4, 1966
- THOMAS WILLIAM EDWARDSPrivate First Class · March 5, 1966
- WILLIAM EDWARD STEIERPrivate First Class · June 24, 1966
- WILLIAM JAMES GILLETTEPrivate First Class · September 9, 1966
- EARL LEON CRISSELL JRCorporal · March 1, 1967
- JOHN EDWIN BERNARDSergeant · June 17, 1967
- ROBIN DOUGLAS MACLEODPrivate First Class · June 22, 1967
- LAWRENCE DAVID PETERSSergeant · September 4, 1967
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.