The Wall › Panel 45E › Rhode Island › James Michael Ray
JAMES MICHAEL RAY
Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army
November 10, 1949 – March 18, 1968
Service recordJames Michael Ray, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He was lost on March 18, 1968, in Lam Dong Province, South Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 28 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 28
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
- Staff Sergeant (SSG)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Intelligence Analyst (96B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- MACV ADVISORS
- Born
- November 10, 1949
- Home of record
- Woonsocket, Rhode Island (Providence County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- March 18, 1968
- Province
- Lam Dong
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Unknown
- First reported
- Captured / prisoner of war
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
82 names on the Wall carry the date March 18, 1968; two of them were lost in Lam Dong Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
MACV Advisers, his unit in the record, lost 21 of its members that month.
He died in Lam Dong Province 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.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 45E, Line 28
- WAYNE PAUL REEVESPrivate First Class · March 18, 1968
- WILLIAM CLAUDE ROBERTSLance Corporal · March 18, 1968
- EULALIO ARTURO ROMANCorporal · March 18, 1968
- FRANK MILAN ROSS JRStaff Sergeant · March 18, 1968
Same unit, same day
- GRADY GANTT JRSergeant · Panel 45E, Line 21
From Woonsocket
- LEWIS METCALFE WALLING JRSecond Lieutenant · February 11, 1962
- ANTHONY SILBASpecialist Five · March 28, 1966
- RONALD JOSEPH BRISSETTEPrivate First Class · June 11, 1966
- PAUL LIONEL DURANDPrivate First Class · March 23, 1967
- RENE RAYMOND COUTUCorporal · August 27, 1967
- RICHARD EDWARD DUCHARMELance Corporal · October 2, 1967
- DENNIS EDWARD BURKESecond Lieutenant · February 6, 1968
- ROBERT WILLIAM LAUZONSpecialist Four · February 28, 1968
- ROBERT JOHN FRISKSergeant · March 27, 1968
- CRAIG BARKER HOLTCorporal · May 26, 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.