The Wall › Panel 2E › West Virginia › James Howard Sawyer
JAMES HOWARD SAWYER
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
June 2, 1945 – August 18, 1965
Service recordJames Howard Sawyer, of Morgantown, West Virginia, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on August 18, 1965, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 60 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 2E · Line 60
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- June 2, 1945
- Home of record
- Morgantown, West Virginia (Monongalia County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- August 18, 1965
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tin
- 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 August 18, 1965; 45 of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In August 1965, 179 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Quảng Tín Province while Operation Starlite was under way. Operation Starlite (18–24 August 1965), on the Van Tuong peninsula south of Chu Lai, was the first regimental-size U.S. ground battle of the war. Marines attacked the 1st Viet Cong Regiment by helicopter, amphibious landing and on foot. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 2E, Line 60
- ALBERT HAROLD RAITTGunnery Sergeant · August 18, 1965
- ROBERT LEE SCOFIELDPrivate First Class · August 18, 1965
- DALE K SHAMBAUGHSecond Lieutenant · August 18, 1965
- CURLEY SHERELS JRCorporal · August 18, 1965
From Morgantown
- WILBERT HERSHELL JOHNSONSergeant · November 17, 1965
- DAVID ALLAN KOVACLance Corporal · December 27, 1965
- ROGER ALLEN BISESpecialist Four · February 13, 1966
- JAMES CARL THOMASLance Corporal · December 20, 1966
- MAJOR ROY DALTON JRSpecialist Four · January 2, 1967
- JAMES EDWARD MESSENGERSergeant · July 15, 1967
- PAUL STEPHEN GOGGINLance Corporal · January 30, 1968
- WILLIAM ROBERT ROSS JRFirst Lieutenant · January 30, 1968
- ROBERT SULLIVAN HOSKINSPrivate First Class · May 1, 1968
- DEAN CALVIN SPENCER IIISpecialist Four · June 7, 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.