EGAN, JAMES THOMAS JR.

Name: James Thomas Egan, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: H/3/12
Date of Birth: 31 May 1943
Home City of Record: Mountainside NJ
Date of Loss: 21 January 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 144800N 1084100E (BS521369)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0235
Others In Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 2020.

SYNOPSIS: 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.

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01/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000001UOKEA2

MAJ JAMES THOMAS EGAN JR.

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Captain James Thomas Egan Jr. entered the U.S. Marine Corps from New Jersey and served as an artillery forward observer in the 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. On January 21, 1966, he was operating with a Marine Force Reconnaissance Company which departed Teh Ba To Special Forces Camp to conduct a patrol in the area around Hill 829 in South Vietnam. The patrol had established a defensive perimeter near the hilltop in the vicinity of (GC) BS 521 369, and Capt Egan and his three-man observer team were on the south side of this perimeter. During the afternoon, a small Viet Cong unit fired into the area, possibly wounding Capt Egan. He then took his weapon and moved away from the area. The other members of the patrol regrouped and attempted to locate him, but could not do so. He was not seen again, and remains unaccounted for. After the incident, the Marine Corps promoted Capt Egan to the rank of Major (Maj). Today, Major Egan is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

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