lest we forget

LANE, JAMES EVERETT

Rank / Branch:

SPECIALIST 5TH CLASS, U.S. ARMY

Date Of Birth:

1933-02-16

Country Of Loss:

SOUTH VIETNAM

Status:

HOSTILE, HELICOPTER CRASH

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:

HELICOPTER CH21-C

Other:

MARRIED

Unit:

8TH TRANS USMAAGV

Date Of Loss:

1962-07-15

Loss Coordinates:

DAK RO

Catagory:

BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

LANE, JAMES EVERETT, SPECIALIST 5TH CLASS, U.S. ARMY

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Combat Infantryman's Badge, Parachute Wings, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster (2 awards-Korea and Vietnam), Bronze Star Medal with "v" device, Good Conduct Medal with 2 Loops, National Defense Service Medal with Gold Star (2 awards), Korean Service Medal with two (2) Bronze Stars for participation in Third Korean Winter and Korean Summer-Fall-1953 Campaigns; United Nations Service Medal, Presidential Unit Citation Badge, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Vietnam),Vietnam Service Medal and Vietnam Campaign Medals.

BIOGRAPHY

James was the first Permian Basin Resident to be killed in the Vietnam War..
James was born in Mosheim, Bosque County, Texas northwest of Waco. He was the only child born to the marriage of Hazel Mozelle Thompson and Everett Lane. The family moved to Odessa in 1946 and James attended Odessa Junior High and High School. in the 1950 census, James was listed as living with his mother and father and he was working as a carpenter. He was aged 16 at the time. His parent's divorced in 1951 and James lived with his mother. She opened "Mo's Bar." It was a place that catered to the oilfield labor following World War II.
He became fascinated with the helicopter when Lyndon Baines Johnson came to Odessa in the summer of 1948 campaigning for the Texas Senate Seat and was using a helicopter to fly him around. James began to research this machine and was enamored with it.
He dropped out of Odessa High School before his senior year to join the U.S. Army at age 17. He enlisted on July 25, 1950. He did his basic infantry and airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to Company G, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While assigned to this unit, he sustained a fractured ankle while on a training jump and the injury disqualified him from service with the airborne unit.
He departed for Korea and served with an infantry company from April 22, 1953, until November 18, 1953. He was wounded in action June 4, 1953, receiving the Combat Infantryman's Badge, his first Purple Heart, the Bronze Star for Valor and was awarded the Silver Star for carrying a wounded soldier out of a hostile area near Porkchop Ridge. He and two other soldiers were attempting to pull a severely wounded soldier out of the hostile fire. They had been cut off and, in the process, night fell upon them. After attempting to avoid the enemy and having no light, they attempted to maneuver through the darkness and throw the carnage. When the other two soldiers, became exhausted, James continued on his own through the darkness, enemy fire and despite wounds he had sustained, he was able to get help to return to save the wounded soldier and to get relief for the other two soldiers. He was wounded by shell fragments during his plight. He was discharged under honorable conditions December 10, 1953, at Fort Bliss, Texas.,
He returned home and married Jo Ann Stanfield of Odessa. His oldest daughter, Pamela Denise was born in Odessa in 1956. After being a civilian for almost three years, James worked as a roughneck, truck driver, and painter in/around Odessa. He didn't feel that he fit in as a civilian and re-enlisted in the Army March 6, 1957, in Odessa.
Since he had been out of the service for several years, was required to complete basic once again. He completed basic training at Fort Ord and was considered to be the old man. He had more combat decorations and was older than all of his cadre, but he graduated as the outstanding trainee with soldiers six to eight years younger. He, then attended courses at the Transportation School, Fort Eustis, Virginia which included Aircraft Comp Repairman, Airframe Repairman and Tandem Rotary Helicopter Repairman.
James was then assigned duties as a Senior Helicopter Mechanic for the 334th Transportation Detachment at Fort Riley, Kansas. His second daughter, Cynthia was born while he was stationed at Fort Riley. James re-enlisted for his own vacancy at a rank of Sp3 to be promoted to Sp4 June 14, 1958. He, then transferred with his unit to Alaska on August 28, 1958, to May 7, 1961, where his son, James Everett Lane, Jr was born. He was then assigned duties as a Helicopter Mechanic with the 140th Transportation Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The unit was to be deployed to Vietnam and as such, all of the helicopters were flown cross country to San Francisco to be put on ships for the trip to South Vietnam. James and his group took off from Fort Bragg and the trip took eight days. They would fly about 250 miles per day. As the group flew over the southwest, one of their stops was to be in Carlsbad, New Mexico. James' mother drove five hours at night to see James. It was the last time she saw him alive. After the unit arrived on the West Coast, his unit deployed to Vietnam on November 21, 1961.
From an article from TimeLine Indochina witten by MSG Ray Bowes, U.S. Army retired in his book: Vietnam Military Lore and Legends
"The First American helicopter crew was lost during a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam on July 15, 1962.