The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade dig foxholes on Hill 875 near Đắk Tô, 22 November 1967.
Men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade dig foxholes on Hill 875 near Đắk Tô, 22 November 1967. Photo: SSG Alfred Batungbacal, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Dudley Shafer.

The Wall › Panel 29E › Ohio › James Dudley Shafer

JAMES DUDLEY SHAFER

Sergeant · U.S. Army

May 24, 1942 – November 6, 1967

Service record

James Dudley Shafer, of Lima, Ohio, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on November 6, 1967, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 25. His name is inscribed on Panel 29E, Line 26 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 29E · Line 26

Position of Panel 29E 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.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Sergeant (SGT)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantry Operations And Intelligence Specialist (11F)
Unit (as recorded)
173 AIRBORNE BDE
Born
May 24, 1942
Home of record
Lima, Ohio (Allen County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 6, 1967
Age
25
Province
Kontum
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Unknown

Context · from the records

What was happening

55 names on the Wall carry the date November 6, 1967; 18 of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In November 1967, 1,133 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 212 of its members that month.

He died in Kon Tum Province while the Battle of Đắk Tô was under way. Around Đắk Tô in the Central Highlands (3–23 November 1967), the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade fought North Vietnamese regiments for the hills along the border, ending with the assault on Hill 875 on Thanksgiving Day. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.

Also on Panel 29E, Line 26

Same unit, same day

From Lima

All 20 names from Lima →

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.