The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter.
A 57th Medical Detachment crew loads a wounded soldier aboard a UH-1D “Dustoff” helicopter. Photo: SP4 James B. Egan, U.S. Army, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of James William Leaf.

The Wall › Panel 31W › Maryland › James William Leaf

JAMES WILLIAM LEAF

Specialist Four · U.S. Army

April 3, 1948 – February 23, 1969

Service record

James William Leaf, of Reisterstown, Maryland, served as a Specialist Four in the U.S. Army. He died on February 23, 1969, in Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam, at age 20. His name is inscribed on Panel 31W, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 31W · Line 8

Position of Panel 31W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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
Medical Specialist (91B)
Unit (as recorded)
25 INF DIV
Born
April 3, 1948
Home of record
Reisterstown, Maryland (Baltimore County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 23, 1969
Age
20
Province
Binh Duong
Country
South Vietnam
Casualty type
Hostile
Category
Killed in Action
Circumstance
Small Arms Fire

Context · from the records

What was happening

209 names on the Wall carry the date February 23, 1969; 30 of them were lost in Bình Dương Province. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 119 of its members that month.

Also on Panel 31W, Line 8

Same unit, same day

From Reisterstown

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.