The Wall › Panel 39W › California › James Douglas Birchim
JAMES DOUGLAS BIRCHIM
Captain · U.S. Army
July 16, 1946 – November 15, 1968
Service recordJames Douglas Birchim, of Independence, California, served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. He was lost on November 15, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 39W, Line 69 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39W · Line 69
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. Army
- Rank
- Captain (CPT)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Infantry Unit Commander (1542)
- Unit (as recorded)
- SPECIAL FORCES
- Born
- July 16, 1946
- Home of record
- Independence, California (Inyo County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- November 15, 1968
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)
- First reported
- Missing in action
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
14 names on the Wall carry the date November 15, 1968; he was the only one lost in Kon Tum Province that day. In November 1968, 918 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
Special Forces, his unit in the record, lost 11 of its members that month.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
Also on Panel 39W, Line 69
- JACKIE SHIRL UNDERWOODPrivate First Class · November 14, 1968
- KARL EDWIN WEBERPrivate First Class · November 14, 1968
- FRANCIS CLAYBURN AKI JRSergeant · November 15, 1968
- WILLIAM ERNEST BROWNSpecialist Four · November 15, 1968
From Independence
- ROY RAYMOND MADDUX JRPrivate First Class · February 28, 1968
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.