The Wall › Panel 25W › Georgia › James Richard Thomas
JAMES RICHARD THOMAS
Corporal · U.S. Army
July 17, 1946 – May 10, 1969
Service recordJames Richard Thomas, of Jesup, Georgia, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on May 10, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 25W, Line 44 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 25W · Line 44
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Armor Crewman (11E)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 5 INF DIV MECH
- Born
- July 17, 1946
- Home of record
- Jesup, Georgia (Wayne County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 10, 1969
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Burns/Smoke Inhalation
Context · from the records
What was happening
61 names on the Wall carry the date May 10, 1969; three of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The unit recorded as “5 INF DIV MECH”, his unit in the record, lost 7 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. 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 25W, Line 44
- ROY STEPHEN THOMASWarrant Officer 1 · May 10, 1969
- RICHARD ALLEN WADEPrivate First Class · May 10, 1969
- BILLY GENE WAIDCorporal · May 10, 1969
- WILLIAM WALTERSPrivate First Class · May 10, 1969
Same unit, same day
- REX FRANKLIN NELSON JRStaff Sergeant · Panel 25W, Line 41
- BILLY GENE WAIDCorporal · Panel 25W, Line 44
From Jesup
- RALPH TRAYLOR WOODALL JRPrivate First Class · March 18, 1967
- ROGER EDWARD MATHISPrivate First Class · April 18, 1967
- WILLARD PAUL WOODSLance Corporal · September 21, 1967
- JAMES LEE ELLIS JRSpecialist Four · November 6, 1967
- IVEY JACKSON HAYESCorporal · April 4, 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.