The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967.
Soldiers of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade wait for a UH-1D during Operation Junction City, 1967. Photo: U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Douglas Chappell.

The Wall › Panel 18W › California › James Douglas Chappell

JAMES DOUGLAS CHAPPELL

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

August 30, 1948 – September 5, 1969

Service record

James Douglas Chappell, of Sunnyside, California, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on September 5, 1969, in South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 18W, Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 18W · Line 51

Position of Panel 18W 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. Army
Rank
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Born
August 30, 1948
Home of record
Sunnyside, California (San Diego County)

Casualty

Date of death
September 5, 1969
Age
21
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Died of Wounds
Circumstance
Artillery/Mortar/Rocket

Context · from the records

What was happening

50 names on the Wall carry the date September 5, 1969. In September 1969, 664 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 18W, Line 51

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.