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 Earl Ruttan.

The Wall › Panel 19W › New York › James Earl Ruttan

JAMES EARL RUTTAN

Corporal · U.S. Army

June 6, 1948 – August 20, 1969

Service record

James Earl Ruttan, of Watertown, New York, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on August 20, 1969, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 19W, Line 82 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 19W · Line 82

Position of Panel 19W 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
Corporal (CPL)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
196 LIGHT INF BDE
Born
June 6, 1948
Home of record
Watertown, New York (Jefferson County)

Casualty

Date of death
August 20, 1969
Age
21
Province
Quang Nam
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

40 names on the Wall carry the date August 20, 1969; ten of them were lost in Quảng Nam Province. In August 1969, 962 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 196th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 74 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 19W, Line 82

Same unit, same day

From Watertown

All 14 names from Watertown →

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.