The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Earnest Foster.

The Wall › Panel 40W › Texas › James Earnest Foster

JAMES EARNEST FOSTER

Sergeant · U.S. Army

January 30, 1946 – October 22, 1968

Service record

James Earnest Foster, of Aubrey, Texas, served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on October 22, 1968, in Phong Dinh Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 40W, Line 19 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 40W · Line 19

Position of Panel 40W 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
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
MACV ADVISORS
Born
January 30, 1946
Home of record
Aubrey, Texas (Denton County)

Casualty

Date of death
October 22, 1968
Age
22
Province
Phong Dinh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Explosive Device

Context · from the records

What was happening

28 names on the Wall carry the date October 22, 1968; four of them were lost in Phong Dinh Province. In October 1968, 821 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 9 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 40W, Line 19

Same unit, same day

From Aubrey

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.