The Wall › Panel 50E › Missouri › James Hardin Metz
JAMES HARDIN METZ
Colonel · U.S. Air Force
June 12, 1931 – April 15, 1968
Service recordJames Hardin Metz, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was lost on April 15, 1968, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 50E, Line 6 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 50E · Line 6
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Air Force
- Rank
- Colonel (COL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Pilot (1115E)
- Born
- June 12, 1931
- Home of record
- Poplar Bluff, Missouri (Butler County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- April 15, 1968
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Captured / prisoner of war
Context · from the records
What was happening
37 names on the Wall carry the date April 15, 1968. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 50E, Line 6
- WILLIAM L MATTHEWS JRLance Corporal · April 15, 1968
- JAMES THOMAS MCMASTERSpecialist Five · April 15, 1968
- JAMES ELLSWORTH NICOLAISENPrivate First Class · April 15, 1968
- JOHN JOSEPH OBRIENSecond Lieutenant · April 15, 1968
From Poplar Bluff
- DALE FRANCIS HUDSONSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- FAMOUS LEE LANEPrivate First Class · April 20, 1966
- ROBERT DANIEL RICHARDSONCorporal · July 4, 1966
- GEORGE EDWARD STEWARTSpecialist Four · October 18, 1966
- EDWARD JERRY MULLERSpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- MICHAEL LEE ENDICOTTPrivate First Class · August 5, 1967
- PAUL JAMES MILLERPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
- RONALD DAVID COBBLance Corporal · April 29, 1968
- RILEY DAVID RAULSTONLance Corporal · May 15, 1968
- GARCLEE M FREDWELLSpecialist Four · August 29, 1968
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.