The Wall › Panel 36E › Pennsylvania › James Jim Petrey
JAMES JIM PETREY
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
December 29, 1947 – February 1, 1968
Service recordJames Jim Petrey, of Modena, Pennsylvania, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 1, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 36E, Line 56 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 36E · Line 56
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. Marine Corps
- Rank
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Assaultman (0351)
- Born
- December 29, 1947
- Home of record
- Modena, Pennsylvania (Chester County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 1, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Explosive Device
Context · from the records
What was happening
96 names on the Wall carry the date February 1, 1968; 31 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. 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 36E, Line 56
- ELBERT HENRY MAXWELLPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- ALFREDO MEDINA JRPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- JACKIE LEE MELTONPrivate First Class · February 1, 1968
- JAMES ARTHUR MELTON JRCorporal · February 1, 1968
From Modena
- JOHN ANDREW SPENCE IIISpecialist Four · October 12, 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.