The Wall › Panel 48E › California › James Mitchell Trimble
JAMES MITCHELL TRIMBLE
Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
January 30, 1949 – April 6, 1968
Service recordJames Mitchell Trimble, of Eureka, California, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on April 6, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 48E, Line 35 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 48E · Line 35
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Unit (as recorded)
- G CO 2 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV
- Born
- January 30, 1949
- Home of record
- Eureka, California (Humboldt County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- April 6, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
- Remains
- Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record
Context · from the records
What was happening
79 names on the Wall carry the date April 6, 1968; 43 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “G CO 2 BN 26 MAR 3 MARDIV”, his unit in the record, lost 2 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
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
Also on Panel 48E, Line 35
- MICHAEL ALLAN SNYDERPrivate First Class · April 6, 1968
- JIMMY RUSSELL SPACHPrivate First Class · April 6, 1968
- RONALD DAVID SPARKSPrivate First Class · April 6, 1968
- STEVEN LEE SPARKSPrivate First Class · April 6, 1968
Same unit, same day
- ANTHONY JOHN PEPPERPrivate First Class · Panel 48E, Line 32
From Eureka
- DOUGLAS FRANK QUINNPrivate First Class · September 16, 1966
- DANIEL ARTHUR PATTERSONLance Corporal · May 25, 1967
- GENE ELWOOD CALPHMaster Sergeant · June 22, 1967
- DENNIS ERWIN GABBERTSpecialist Four · September 1, 1967
- JAMES EDWARD ANDERSONSpecialist Four · November 3, 1967
- DANIEL CLYDE FAULKS JRSpecialist Four · December 26, 1967
- PETER ALAN HILLPrivate First Class · February 11, 1968
- FRANK EBERLY HEADLEY IVSergeant · April 1, 1968
- DAVID ALLEN CARLINCaptain · January 16, 1969
- JACK ELWIN WILLIAMSSpecialist Four · March 8, 1969
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.