The Wall › Panel 43E › Oklahoma › James Richard Tomlinson
JAMES RICHARD TOMLINSON
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 27, 1947 – March 4, 1968
Service recordJames Richard Tomlinson, of Perkins, Oklahoma, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on March 4, 1968, in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 43E, Line 1 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 43E · Line 1
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
- Drafted (Selective Service)
- Occupation
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 198 LIGHT INF BDE
- Born
- September 27, 1947
- Home of record
- Perkins, Oklahoma (Payne County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 4, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tin
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Artillery/Mortar/Rocket
Context · from the records
What was happening
75 names on the Wall carry the date March 4, 1968; three of them were lost in Quảng Tín Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 198th Light Infantry Brigade, his unit in the record, lost 23 of its members that month.
He died in Quảng Tín Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 43E, Line 1
- MICHAEL TOLLEYPrivate First Class · March 4, 1968
- JOSE ENRIQUE TORRESSpecialist Four · March 4, 1968
- EVERETT JOSE VALANDINGHAMSpecialist Five · March 4, 1968
- ANGEL RUDY VASQUEZPrivate First Class · March 4, 1968
Same unit, same day
- THOMAS B ADAMSFirst Lieutenant · Panel 42E, Line 60
- RICHARD LEE CLAVERIESpecialist Four · Panel 42E, Line 62
- GEORGE ROBERT HUTCHINSONSergeant · Panel 42E, Line 66
- RICHARD JOHNSONSpecialist Five · Panel 42E, Line 67
From Perkins
- ROY BROWN PARSONSChief Warrant Officer 2 · February 20, 1968
- EDGAR DEWAYNE BELLPrivate First Class · March 17, 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.