The Wall › Panel 40E › Ohio › James Stephen Combs
JAMES STEPHEN COMBS
Specialist Four · U.S. Army
September 17, 1948 – February 22, 1968
Service recordJames Stephen Combs, of Dayton, Ohio, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 22, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 19. His name is inscribed on Panel 40E, Line 60 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 40E · Line 60
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
- Infantryman (11B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- September 17, 1948
- Home of record
- Dayton, Ohio (Montgomery County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 22, 1968
- Age
- 19
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
76 names on the Wall carry the date February 22, 1968; 16 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 144 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 40E, Line 60
- THEODORE COAXUMSergeant · February 22, 1968
- RICHARD AGUIRRE CONTRERASPrivate First Class · February 22, 1968
- HOWARD MAX COXLance Corporal · February 22, 1968
- LARRY CHARLES COXAirman First Class · February 22, 1968
Same unit, same day
- SAMUEL LEE ANDERTONSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 57
- CHARLES WILLIAM CLINESpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 59
- MICHAEL STEPHEN COLLINSSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 59
- JON ALBERT JULIASergeant · Panel 40E, Line 64
- JAMES ANTHONY KOCHPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 64
- ROLAND PHILLIP LEVESQUESergeant · Panel 40E, Line 65
- HERMAN MCGEEPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 66
- JOE MELVIN NEILLPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 66
- CORNELIUS PRESSLEYPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 67
- FRED REAVES JRSergeant · Panel 40E, Line 67
- GEORGE JOSEPH SCHULTZSpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 68
- JERRY WALTON SMITHPrivate First Class · Panel 40E, Line 69
- EDWARD ZAMORASpecialist Four · Panel 40E, Line 71
From Dayton
- CHARLES ROBERT SMITHLance Corporal · May 23, 1965
- JOE CALVIN PAULLance Corporal · August 19, 1965
- RICHARD DENNIS SHARPLance Corporal · October 30, 1965
- RICHARD GALE WICKLance Corporal · November 22, 1965
- DONALD MAILY SHAFER IIPrivate First Class · February 18, 1966
- HARRY DONALD HASKINSPrivate First Class · April 29, 1966
- TIMOTHY RAYPrivate First Class · May 8, 1966
- ROGER MICHAEL MATHEWSONSergeant · May 11, 1966
- MICHAEL ROBERT POPPAWPrivate First Class · May 12, 1966
- DOUGLAS HUGH KNOTTPrivate First Class · July 19, 1966
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.