The Wall › Panel 45E › Michigan › James Patrick Achterhoff
JAMES PATRICK ACHTERHOFF
Lance Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
June 13, 1949 – March 18, 1968
Service recordJames Patrick Achterhoff, of Muskegon, Michigan, served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 18, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 18. His name is inscribed on Panel 45E, Line 18 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 45E · Line 18
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
- Lance Corporal (LCPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- June 13, 1949
- Home of record
- Muskegon, Michigan (Muskegon County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 18, 1968
- Age
- 18
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
82 names on the Wall carry the date March 18, 1968; 23 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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 45E, Line 18
- BILLY ROY BOWENLance Corporal · March 18, 1968
- CHARLES LEE BOZEMANPrivate First Class · March 18, 1968
- MICHAEL DAVID CARROLLPrivate First Class · March 18, 1968
- MICHAEL JAMES CASEYSecond Lieutenant · March 18, 1968
From Muskegon
- LOUIS KENNETH KANAARCaptain · January 9, 1966
- RICHARD NORMAN GEREAUCaptain · March 5, 1966
- DONALD LEWIS KINGColonel · May 14, 1966
- JAMES ALLEN TAZELAARPrivate First Class · June 28, 1966
- DANIEL LEE EARLENBAUGHSpecialist Four · August 26, 1966
- ROBERT GAYLE DAVISONSergeant · December 17, 1966
- JAMES HARVEY HOPSONPrivate First Class · March 21, 1967
- ANTONIO RAMON PONCEPrivate First Class · November 12, 1967
- GERALD RAY HENDRICKSONCorporal · November 26, 1967
- DAVID ORVILLE KAMPCorporal · December 27, 1967
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.