Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: Howitzer Battery, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 13A – Field Artillery Basic
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Note: Forward Observer attached to C Troop, 1/11 ACR
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 7-Oct-1947
Hometown: Grayling, Michigan
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 14-Feb-1969
Start of tour: 29-Jul-1969
Incident date: 15-May-1970
Date of casualty: 23-May-1970
Age at death: 22
Cause of death: Hostile, died of wounds. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
James Erwin Russ died of wounds received in Cambodia while at a night defensive position when the area came under mortar attack by a hostile force. He was admitted to a military medical facility in Vietnam and later expired. / At night defensive position (NDP). Area came under hostile mortar attack. Admitted to 45th Surgical Hospital, Tay Ninh, on 15 May 1970 at 0330 hrs and placed on Very Serious List (VSI) on 15 May 1970 at 1100 hrs. Transferred to 24th Evacuation Hospital, Long Binh, on 15 May 1970 at 0230 hrs.
Location of fatality: Cambodia, XU 300 196
Place of interment: Maple Hill Cemetery, Cadillac, Michigan, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)