Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: C Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
Awards: Silver Star, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 14-Sep-1944
Hometown: Orrum, North Carolina
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 15-Sep-1965
Start of tour: Unknown
Incident date: 21-Nov-1966
Date of casualty: 21-Nov-1966
Age at death: 22
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
Jimmy Linwood Rhodes died on 21 Nov 1966 in Vietnam as the result of metal fragment wounds received when the Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) he was riding in was hit by fragments from a hostile mortar round.
Five Blackhorse troopers died in this incident:
PFC Russell Louis Halley
SP4 Ray Ellsworth Johnson
SP4 Wallace James Malone
PFC Harry Lee Powers
SP4 Jimmy Linwood Rhodes
Location of fatality: South Vietnam
Place of interment: Floyd Memorial Cemetery, Fairmont, North Carolina, USA
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SILVER STAR
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR JIMMY LINWOOD RHODES
21 NOVEMBER 1966
C TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four Rhodes distinguished himself by gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. Specialist Four Rhodes distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions while serving with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, on 21 November 1966 while serving as driver of an armored assault vehicle during an escort mission to a truck convoy near Xuan Loc. As the convoy made contact with a large Viet Cong force, Specialist Four Rhodes’ vehicle received several hits which set it on fire and wounded several of the crew members. When the heat from the flames became too intense, the crew, with the exception of Specialist Four Rhodes, abandoned the vehicle. Seeing his comrades at the mercy of the Viet Cong, he stayed in the vehicle and moved it forward along the road to distract the hostile fire from them. He lost his life while climbing out of the burning vehicle. Specialist Four Rhodes’ gallantry in action against a hostile force was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, United States Army Vietnam General Orders No. 6791 (12 December 1966)