The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Mathew Kelly.

The Wall › Panel 12E › Alabama › James Mathew Kelly

JAMES MATHEW KELLY

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

January 30, 1946 – November 8, 1966

Service record

James Mathew Kelly, of Atmore, Alabama, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on November 8, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 12E, Line 43 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 12E · Line 43

Position of Panel 12E 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
January 30, 1946
Home of record
Atmore, Alabama (Escambia County)

Casualty

Date of death
November 8, 1966
Age
20
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

29 names on the Wall carry the date November 8, 1966. In November 1966, 641 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 77 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 12E, Line 43

Same unit, same day

From Atmore

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.