The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966.
Troopers of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, make a combat assault, December 1966. Photo: SP5 Charles V. Hoover, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Newton Matthews.

The Wall › Panel 6E › California › James Newton Matthews

JAMES NEWTON MATTHEWS

Staff Sergeant · U.S. Army

October 4, 1942 – March 30, 1966

Service record

James Newton Matthews, of Milpitas, California, served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army. He died on March 30, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 6E, Line 66 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 6E · Line 66

Position of Panel 6E 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
Staff Sergeant (SSG)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Infantryman (11B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born
October 4, 1942
Home of record
Milpitas, California (Santa Clara County)

Casualty

Date of death
March 30, 1966
Age
23
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

41 names on the Wall carry the date March 30, 1966. In March 1966, 564 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 47 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 6E, Line 66

Same unit, same day

From Milpitas

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.