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 Hester Palmer.

The Wall › Panel 11W › Mississippi › James Hester Palmer

JAMES HESTER PALMER

Sergeant Major · U.S. Army

April 30, 1930 – April 27, 1970

Service record

James Hester Palmer, of Meridian, Mississippi, served as a Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army. He died on April 27, 1970, in Pleiku Province, South Vietnam, at age 39. His name is inscribed on Panel 11W, Line 60 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 11W · Line 60

Position of Panel 11W 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 Major (SGM)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Command Sergeant Major (00Z)
Unit (as recorded)
4 INF DIV
Born
April 30, 1930
Home of record
Meridian, Mississippi (Lauderdale County)

Casualty

Date of death
April 27, 1970
Age
39
Province
Pleiku
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Helicopter Crash — Passenger (MC)

Context · from the records

What was happening

28 names on the Wall carry the date April 27, 1970; eight of them were lost in Pleiku Province. In April 1970, 730 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 4th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 24 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 11W, Line 60

Same unit, same day

From Meridian

All 24 names from Meridian →

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.