The Wall › Panel 47E › California › James Oscar West
JAMES OSCAR WEST
Private First Class · U.S. Army
March 14, 1945 – March 31, 1968
Service recordJames Oscar West, of Berkeley, California, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. He died on March 31, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 23. His name is inscribed on Panel 47E, Line 28 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 47E · 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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Indirect Fire Infantryman (11C)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- March 14, 1945
- Home of record
- Berkeley, California (Alameda County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 31, 1968
- Age
- 23
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Drowning
Context · from the records
What was happening
52 names on the Wall carry the date March 31, 1968; 11 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 208 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.
Read the history
Also on Panel 47E, Line 28
- WILLIAM VANCE JRSergeant First Class · March 31, 1968
- SHERMAN THOMAS WASHINGTONPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
- JOSEPH KEITH WHEELERPrivate First Class · March 31, 1968
- STEVEN ROSS WOLTERPetty Officer Third Class · March 31, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LESLIE ARNOLD BALLSergeant · Panel 47E, Line 19
- PATRICK MARTIN DERIGCorporal · Panel 47E, Line 20
- JERRY LEE PATRICKSpecialist Five · Panel 47E, Line 25
- DON JUNIOR YELVERTONSpecialist Four · Panel 47E, Line 25
- EZEKIEL PAIGESergeant · Panel 47E, Line 26
- DANNY LYNN STEPHENSPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 27
From Berkeley
- ZOLTAN ALAJOS KOVACSWarrant Officer 1 · June 10, 1965
- DONALD HUBERT BROWN JRLieutenant (junior grade) · August 12, 1965
- WINFIELD WADE SISSONColonel · October 18, 1965
- PHILIP MICHAEL CALLANPrivate First Class · October 4, 1966
- KENNETH ROBBINS CAMERONCaptain · May 18, 1967
- MICHAEL JAMES HARECorporal · June 17, 1967
- CHARLES RICHARD MULLAN JRHospitalman · June 28, 1967
- DONALD LEROY GASSERPrivate First Class · August 29, 1967
- ALLEN HIDEO HARANOPrivate First Class · February 6, 1968
- ESMOND EMERSON SNELL JRFirst Lieutenant · April 16, 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.