CLOSSON, JAMES STANLEY
A1C - Air Force - Regular
21 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Sep 21, 1947
From SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK
366th SPS, Đà Nàng Air Base
Length of service 1 year.
His tour of duty began on Jul 13, 1968
Casualty was on Jan 12, 1969
in QUANG NAM, SOUTH VIETNAM
Non Hostile, GROUND CASUALTY
DROWNED, SUFFOCATED
Body was recovered
Panel 35W - Line 75

Circumstances: Died of accidental drowning
while swimming at China Beach with some friends.

His first name was James. We were assigned to Cougar Security and at that time the town of DaNang was off limits to Military personnel, and we never went anywhere except to the perimeter of the base to pull duty in a bunker or tower. One day we got permission and the whole Flight planned a barbecue at China beach--everybody was real excited due to the fact that was the first and only time we went any place as a whole Flight.

When we arrived at the beach we started setting up the barbecue and getting the food out, James along with several other guys jumped in the surf, it wasn't ten minutes later that one of the guys began yelling that James went under and didn't come up, several of us swam out to the area where he disappeared but we could not find him. We then ran up on the beach and pulled a boat into the water, so we could continue looking for him. W didn't have oars for the boat and the surf just pushed us back up on the beach. We asked some marines who were watching the whole thing from atop an amphibious launch craft if they could help us and they said they couldn't move without the permission of their Officer In Charge.

The Navy recovered James' body floating in the China Sea approximately ten days later.

George Adaza

China Beach, calm and beautiful most of the year. But storms at sea can raise surfer waves, and riptides unexpectedly.