Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Note: M-113A1, ACAV, K-18
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 9-Apr-1945
Hometown: Blue Springs, Mississippi
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Start of tour: 23-Aug-1966
Incident date: 21-May-1967
Date of casualty: 21-May-1967
Age at death: 22
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Burns/Smoke Inhalation. Burns.
James David McWhorter was on convoy escort mission when engaged in firefight with a hostile force.
Seventeen Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
SP5 William Phillip Centers Jr
SGT Eugene Harold Dickinson
PVT Jerry Lee Houser
SP4 Toler Lee Hutchins Jr
SP4 Phillip Earl Ireland
SSG James Albert Jackson
SGT Alfred Lee
PFC Patrick Michael Loisel
SP4 Henry David McInnis
SP4 James David McWhorter
SP4 Anthony Wilfred Roybal
PFC Rodolfo Andres Saenz
SSG Walter Stephen Simpson
PFC William Charles Stanley
SP4 James Thomas Steighner
SP4 Dwight Elmer Timberlake
SP4 Larry Allen Williamson
Location of fatality: Long Khanh, South Vietnam, YT 564 054
Place of interment: Red Hill Cemetery African American, Blue Springs, Mississippi, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)
BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR JAMES DAVID McWHORTER
21 MAY 1967
K TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four McWhorter distinguished himself by valorous actions on 21 May 1967, while serving as driver of on Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle during a fierce encounter with the enemy on Route 1 near Soui Cat, Vietnam. As the armored convoy moved down a narrow road bordered on both sides with brush and slight vegetation, it suddenly came under an intense volume of recoilless rifle and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior Viet Cong force. Without regard for personal safety, Specialist McWhorter gallantly exposed himself to a torrent of insurgent fire as he assumed the position of gunner. Although wounded and suffering great pain, he bravely directed suppressive fire on the hostile emplacements, which greatly slowed the enemy’s initial attack and allowed the rest of the units to maneuver into battle formation. Specialist McWhorter continued to direct a devastating volume of fire upon the insurgent force until he was mortally wounded. Specialist Flour McWhorter’s personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 1924 (27 June 1967)