The Wall › Panel 41E › South Dakota › James Lawrence Lien
JAMES LAWRENCE LIEN
Petty Officer Third Class · U.S. Navy
January 7, 1946 – February 27, 1968
Service recordJames Lawrence Lien, of Lead, South Dakota, served as a Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 27, 1968, in South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 41E, Line 51 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 41E · Line 51
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. Navy
- Rank
- Petty Officer Third Class (PO3)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Boatswain's Mate (BM)
- Unit (as recorded)
- MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11
- Born
- January 7, 1946
- Home of record
- Lead, South Dakota (Lawrence County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 27, 1968
- Age
- 22
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
56 names on the Wall carry the date February 27, 1968. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE TF 117 SQ 11 ASLT DIV 11”, his unit in the record, lost 3 of its members that month.
He died in South Vietnam 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.
Also on Panel 41E, Line 51
- LAWRENCE FRANK LUBONSKIPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
- ABELARDO MALAVE-RIOSFirst Sergeant · February 27, 1968
- PAUL LLOYD MILIUSCaptain · February 27, 1968
- PAUL JAMES MILLERPrivate First Class · February 27, 1968
Same unit, same day
- JEIDER JACKSON WARRENPetty Officer First Class · Panel 41E, Line 56
From Lead
- DENNIS DALE ASCHENBRENNERFirst Lieutenant · July 2, 1967
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.