The Wall › Panel 39E › New Jersey › James Thomas Gordon
JAMES THOMAS GORDON
Corporal · U.S. Marine Corps
February 5, 1947 – February 17, 1968
Service recordJames Thomas Gordon, of Englewood, New Jersey, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on February 17, 1968, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 39E, Line 71 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 39E · Line 71
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
- Corporal (CPL)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- February 5, 1947
- Home of record
- Englewood, New Jersey (Bergen County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 17, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
51 names on the Wall carry the date February 17, 1968; 19 of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Huế was under way. At Huế (31 January–2 March 1968), Marines, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions and South Vietnamese troops fought house to house for 26 days to retake the old imperial capital, the longest urban battle of the war. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Also on Panel 39E, Line 71
- TERRENCE COLLINSON GRAVESSecond Lieutenant · February 17, 1968
- HENRY GREGORYPrivate First Class · February 17, 1968
- BLAKE HENRY HALFMANLance Corporal · February 17, 1968
- GLENN MILLER HAYDENCommander · February 17, 1968
From Englewood
- JOSEPH M KIERNAN JRLieutenant Colonel · June 3, 1967
- SYLVESTER JOHNSONPrivate First Class · December 21, 1968
- JEROME MENTERPetty Officer Third Class · May 12, 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.