Luttrell, James Martin
Army Sergeant 1st class

James Martin Luttrell, age 35, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cumberland county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, May 3, 1971
Death details: On May 3, 1971, a long-range reconnaissance patrol made up of U.S. and South Vietnamese troops was inserted into Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. The patrol was never extracted and did not return to any friendly base, and was never heard from again. Search efforts for the patrol’s members were repeatedly stymied by bad weather and enemy presence. Subsequent investigations yielded reports that the patrol had been attacked by local militia forces and suffered casualties, but no remains of patrol members were found by the investigators. One of the U.S. soldiers on this patrol was eventually accounted for, but two others remain missing. Staff Sergeant James Martin Luttrell, who entered the U.S. Army from North Carolina, served with Headquarters, U.S. Army, Vietnam, and was a member of this patrol. He remains unaccounted for. Following the incident, the Army promoted SSG Luttrell to the rank of Master Sergeant (MSG). Today, Master Sergeant Luttrell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com