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 Michael Kalter.

The Wall › Panel 30W › Illinois › James Michael Kalter

JAMES MICHAEL KALTER

Private First Class · U.S. Army

August 16, 1947 – March 3, 1969

Service record

James Michael Kalter, of Prospect Heights, Illinois, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 3, 1969, in Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 30W, Line 25 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 30W · Line 25

Position of Panel 30W 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.

See this name on the Wall

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.

Share a photo or memoryPhotos & remembrances on VVMF’s Wall of Faces ↗

Service

Branch
U.S. Army
Rank
Private First Class (PFC)
Service
Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
August 16, 1947
Home of record
Prospect Heights, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 3, 1969
Age
21
Province
Tay Ninh
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Other Accident

Context · from the records

What was happening

89 names on the Wall carry the date March 3, 1969; he was the only one lost in Tây Ninh Province that day. In March 1969, 1,553 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 121 of its members that month.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 30W, Line 25

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.