The Wall › Panel 5E › Alabama › James Thomas Ruffin
JAMES THOMAS RUFFIN
Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy
January 16, 1941 – February 18, 1966
Service recordJames Thomas Ruffin, of Deatsville, Alabama, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He was lost on February 18, 1966, in North Vietnam, and was later declared dead. His name is inscribed on Panel 5E, Line 49 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 5E · Line 49
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
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Navy
- Rank
- Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Url Naval Flight Officer (1320)
- Born
- January 16, 1941
- Home of record
- Deatsville, Alabama (Elmore County)
Casualty
- Date of loss
- February 18, 1966
- Country
- North Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Declared Dead
- Circumstance
- Aircraft Crash — crew
- First reported
- Missing in action
Context · from the records
What was happening
30 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1966. In February 1966, 513 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
He died in North Vietnam while Operation Rolling Thunder was under way. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965–November 1968) was the sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, flown by Air Force fighter-bombers from Thailand and Navy aircraft from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against some of the densest air defenses in the world.
His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.
Read the history
On the Wall
Also on Panel 5E, Line 49
- SHEPPARD ROBINSON JRSpecialist Four · February 18, 1966
- THOMAS ANTHONY SCHROEFFELLieutenant (junior grade) · February 18, 1966
- DONALD MAILY SHAFER IIPrivate First Class · February 18, 1966
- ALBERT MERRIMAN SMITHCaptain · February 18, 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.