The Wall › Panel 45E › Florida › James Guy Blackshear
JAMES GUY BLACKSHEAR
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 7, 1948 – March 17, 1968
Service recordJames Guy Blackshear, of Starke, Florida, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 17, 1968, in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 8
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
- Specialist Four (SP4)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 173 AIRBORNE BDE
- Born
- September 7, 1948
- Home of record
- Starke, Florida (Bradford County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 17, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Kontum
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
48 names on the Wall carry the date March 17, 1968; three of them were lost in Kon Tum Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 69 of its members that month.
He died in Kon Tum Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 45E, Line 8
- JOHN LEE BINGLEY JRLance Corporal · March 17, 1968
- RALPH ALTON BRANSON JRPrivate First Class · March 17, 1968
- JAMES ROBERT BURCH JRAirman · March 17, 1968
- DANIEL LEE BURRSergeant · March 17, 1968
Same unit, same day
- DANIEL LEE BURRSergeant · Panel 45E, Line 8
- RICHARD JAMES GROOMSSpecialist Four · Panel 45E, Line 11
- PATRICK JOSEPH TREMBLAYPrivate First Class · Panel 45E, Line 16
From Starke
- ARTHUR BROXTON JRCorporal · June 2, 1966
- LEON BUTLER TRIESTCaptain · October 24, 1966
- ROBERT MELVIN NAILCorporal · June 8, 1967
- LAWRENCE RUTHERFORD KIMBLERSpecialist Four · August 4, 1967
- CHARLES RICHARD CREWSPrivate First Class · November 20, 1967
- ROBERT EARL TERRELLPrivate First Class · April 26, 1968
- ARTHUR BOYD CLARKSergeant · December 11, 1969
- RONALD ELLIS NEWMANCorporal · April 26, 1970
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.