The Wall › Panel 44E › Oklahoma › James William Bettis
JAMES WILLIAM BETTIS
Private First Class · U.S. Marine Corps
September 7, 1947 – March 12, 1968
Service recordJames William Bettis, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, served as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He died on March 12, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 44E, Line 24 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 44E · Line 24
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
- Private First Class (PFC)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Rifleman (0311)
- Born
- September 7, 1947
- Home of record
- Tulsa, Oklahoma (Tulsa County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- March 12, 1968
- Age
- 20
- Province
- Quang Tri
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Small Arms Fire
Context · from the records
What was happening
43 names on the Wall carry the date March 12, 1968; 21 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In March 1968, 1,767 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
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 44E, Line 24
- BERND BACHLEDAPrivate First Class · March 12, 1968
- LAWRENCE ANTHONY BRANIGANLance Corporal · March 12, 1968
- RICHARD PETER BRUCEFirst Lieutenant · March 12, 1968
- THOMAS RYAN FLEMINGLance Corporal · March 12, 1968
From Tulsa
- JORDEN DUWAYNE FORRESTERSpecialist Four · November 17, 1965
- MARTIN RONALD SCOTTColonel · March 15, 1966
- JAMES ALLEN DOKESergeant · March 24, 1966
- DAVID LEE CHAPMANPrivate First Class · May 18, 1966
- STANLEY GILBERT COXCaptain · May 18, 1966
- FLOYD WAYNE HAMILTONLance Corporal · May 23, 1966
- WILLIAM ROSS SAVAGEWarrant Officer 1 · June 24, 1966
- ISAIAH HERMAN WILSONPrivate First Class · July 15, 1966
- PAUL WILLIAM JOHNSONCaptain · July 22, 1966
- LEE GRANT JOHNSONLance Corporal · July 30, 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.