Maj James Thomas Egan, Jr. – US Marine Corps
PERSONAL DATA:
Home of Record: Mountainside, New Jersey
Date of birth: 05/31/1943
Notre Dame Class of 1964
MILITARY DATA:
Service: United States Marine Corps
Rank at Loss: Captain (Promoted while in MIA status)
Unit: H BTRY, 3RD BN, 12TH MARINES, 3RD MARDIV
Awarded: Purple Heart
CASUALTY DATA:
Start Tour: Not recorded
Incident Date: 01/21/1966
Casualty Date: 01/21/1966
Change Status: 02/03/1978 (Declared dead)
Age at Loss: 22
Remains: Body Not Recovered
Location: Quang Tin, South Vietnam
Casualty Type: Hostile, Died While Missing
Casualty Reason: Not Reported - Ground Casualty
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery (Memorial Marker), Arlington, VA
ON THE WALL: Panel 04E Line 81
On January 21, 1966, a 1st Force Recon Team consisting of 14 Marines, call sign Hateful, led by 1LT Richard F. Parker Jr., was patrolling an area near Hill 829, approximately 2 ½ miles northwest of Ba To Camp, Quang Ngai Province, RVN, when it encountered a significant enemy force. 1LT Parker took an advance party and reached the top of Hill 829 at 1400 hours where they halted for the day because of poor visibility. Three hours later, Parker’s Marines heard yelling and firing from the vicinity of their rear base on the lower slope of the hill. By the time Parker and his group reached the patrol’s rear party, it had already repulsed five attacks. In the confusion, 1LT James T. Egan Jr., a forward observer from an artillery battery, had disappeared. Parker and his men searched the immediate area, but found no sign of the missing lieutenant, nor were any tracks or signs of movement in another direction found. Ending their search near dark, the patrol located themselves for the night several hundred yards from the incident. At 0745 hours the next morning, the reconnaissance team began the difficult climb down the mountain to continue their mission. About two and a half hours later, 50 to 60 enemy soldiers suddenly attacked from the rear. Parker and five of his men escaped into a densely vegetated draw and set up an ambush. They were joined one-half hour later by three other Marines from the patrol. Viet Cong and NVA searched the area for Team Hateful. 1LT Parker called an artillery mission on the suspected enemy positions. After the battery stopped firing, four helicopters from Marine Air Group 36 (MAG-36) picked up the patrol, the nine men in the draw, and three other Marines stranded nearby. One Marine, LCPL Edwin R. Grissett Jr., was missing. He was the point man for the patrol and was seen several times during the descent in good condition and further down the hill than the rest. The 1st Force Reconnaissance Company conducted several other patrols in the vicinity of Hill 829 for several days after, but never found 1LT Egan or LCPL Grissett. Both Marines were put into the status of Missing in Action. A subsequent report dated January 5, 1976, stated that 1LT Grissett had been captured by enemy forces and died in a P.O.W. camp of malnutrition and severe psychological regression on December 2, 1968. His remains were repatriated January 23, 1989, and positively identified July 27, 1989. Egan has not been recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and from the book “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War, 1966” by Dr. Jack Shulimson]
UPDATE:
James T. Egan graduated from the University of Notre Dame before
his 21st birthday. He joined the Marine Corps, temporarily setting aside his
ambition to become a patent lawyer. A 95 average at Quantico allowed him to
select his assignment, and he chose Hawaii.
Once in Hawaii, 1Lt. Egan's unit was unexpectedly ordered to Vietnam. Egan's
bright future changed when his unit was hit by enemy fire and he disappeared
on January 21, 1966. His unit was operating about 15 miles southwest of the
city of Quang Ngai in South Vietnam. Egan failed to arrive at the scheduled
rendezvous point his reconnaissance patrol had arranged, and he was declared
Missing in Action.
Some years later, a South Vietnamese soldier reported that he had been held
captive with Egan, but that the communists had executed Egan. As the Marine
Corps never changed his status to Prisoner of War, the validity of this
report cannot be ascertained.
There have been thousands of reports received by the U.S. Government
regarding Americans held in Southeast Asia. Government experts disagree
whether or not these reports constitute actionable evidence. To date, the
U.S. has been unable to secure the release of even a single prisoner held
after the war. The Egan family wants to know if Egan is one of them - and
when he will be brought home.
James T. Egan, Jr. was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he
was maintained Missing in Action.
The “New Rivals” won’t let me link or put pictures in (if anyone can help me with that I’d appreciate it) but check out the story on CPT Egan in ND magazine in the link below: [you need to copy and paste]
magazine.nd.edu
PERSONAL DATA:
Home of Record: Mountainside, New Jersey
Date of birth: 05/31/1943
Notre Dame Class of 1964
MILITARY DATA:
Service: United States Marine Corps
Rank at Loss: Captain (Promoted while in MIA status)
Unit: H BTRY, 3RD BN, 12TH MARINES, 3RD MARDIV
Awarded: Purple Heart
CASUALTY DATA:
Start Tour: Not recorded
Incident Date: 01/21/1966
Casualty Date: 01/21/1966
Change Status: 02/03/1978 (Declared dead)
Age at Loss: 22
Remains: Body Not Recovered
Location: Quang Tin, South Vietnam
Casualty Type: Hostile, Died While Missing
Casualty Reason: Not Reported - Ground Casualty
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery (Memorial Marker), Arlington, VA
ON THE WALL: Panel 04E Line 81
On January 21, 1966, a 1st Force Recon Team consisting of 14 Marines, call sign Hateful, led by 1LT Richard F. Parker Jr., was patrolling an area near Hill 829, approximately 2 ½ miles northwest of Ba To Camp, Quang Ngai Province, RVN, when it encountered a significant enemy force. 1LT Parker took an advance party and reached the top of Hill 829 at 1400 hours where they halted for the day because of poor visibility. Three hours later, Parker’s Marines heard yelling and firing from the vicinity of their rear base on the lower slope of the hill. By the time Parker and his group reached the patrol’s rear party, it had already repulsed five attacks. In the confusion, 1LT James T. Egan Jr., a forward observer from an artillery battery, had disappeared. Parker and his men searched the immediate area, but found no sign of the missing lieutenant, nor were any tracks or signs of movement in another direction found. Ending their search near dark, the patrol located themselves for the night several hundred yards from the incident. At 0745 hours the next morning, the reconnaissance team began the difficult climb down the mountain to continue their mission. About two and a half hours later, 50 to 60 enemy soldiers suddenly attacked from the rear. Parker and five of his men escaped into a densely vegetated draw and set up an ambush. They were joined one-half hour later by three other Marines from the patrol. Viet Cong and NVA searched the area for Team Hateful. 1LT Parker called an artillery mission on the suspected enemy positions. After the battery stopped firing, four helicopters from Marine Air Group 36 (MAG-36) picked up the patrol, the nine men in the draw, and three other Marines stranded nearby. One Marine, LCPL Edwin R. Grissett Jr., was missing. He was the point man for the patrol and was seen several times during the descent in good condition and further down the hill than the rest. The 1st Force Reconnaissance Company conducted several other patrols in the vicinity of Hill 829 for several days after, but never found 1LT Egan or LCPL Grissett. Both Marines were put into the status of Missing in Action. A subsequent report dated January 5, 1976, stated that 1LT Grissett had been captured by enemy forces and died in a P.O.W. camp of malnutrition and severe psychological regression on December 2, 1968. His remains were repatriated January 23, 1989, and positively identified July 27, 1989. Egan has not been recovered. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and from the book “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War, 1966” by Dr. Jack Shulimson]
UPDATE:
James T. Egan graduated from the University of Notre Dame before
his 21st birthday. He joined the Marine Corps, temporarily setting aside his
ambition to become a patent lawyer. A 95 average at Quantico allowed him to
select his assignment, and he chose Hawaii.
Once in Hawaii, 1Lt. Egan's unit was unexpectedly ordered to Vietnam. Egan's
bright future changed when his unit was hit by enemy fire and he disappeared
on January 21, 1966. His unit was operating about 15 miles southwest of the
city of Quang Ngai in South Vietnam. Egan failed to arrive at the scheduled
rendezvous point his reconnaissance patrol had arranged, and he was declared
Missing in Action.
Some years later, a South Vietnamese soldier reported that he had been held
captive with Egan, but that the communists had executed Egan. As the Marine
Corps never changed his status to Prisoner of War, the validity of this
report cannot be ascertained.
There have been thousands of reports received by the U.S. Government
regarding Americans held in Southeast Asia. Government experts disagree
whether or not these reports constitute actionable evidence. To date, the
U.S. has been unable to secure the release of even a single prisoner held
after the war. The Egan family wants to know if Egan is one of them - and
when he will be brought home.
James T. Egan, Jr. was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he
was maintained Missing in Action.
The “New Rivals” won’t let me link or put pictures in (if anyone can help me with that I’d appreciate it) but check out the story on CPT Egan in ND magazine in the link below: [you need to copy and paste]
Missing in Action | Notre Dame Magazine | University of Notre Dame
The summer of 1960 was our last summer together, and golf was our passion.
magazine.nd.edu
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