The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division leap from a UH-1D during an air assault. Photo: SP4 Johnnie Jackson, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James Richard Foley.

The Wall › Panel 5E › Illinois › James Richard Foley

JAMES RICHARD FOLEY

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

April 9, 1936 – February 24, 1966

Service record

James Richard Foley, of Chicago, Illinois, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 24, 1966, in South Vietnam, at age 29. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 71 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 5E · Line 71

Position of Panel 5E 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
Specialist Four (SP4)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Light Wheel Vehicle Mechanic (63B)
Unit (as recorded)
1 INF DIV
Born
April 9, 1936
Home of record
Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 24, 1966
Age
29
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Grenade

Context · from the records

What was happening

34 names on the Wall carry the date February 24, 1966. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 83 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 5E, Line 71

Same unit, same day

From Chicago

All 955 names from Chicago →

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.