Rank/Branch: E3/US
Army
Unit: Company C,
4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 20
November 1949
Home City of Record:
Goodwater, AL
Date of Loss: 06
March 1969
Country of Loss:
South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates:
101730N 1052251E (XS512379)
Status (in 1973):
Missing In Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in
Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS: Shot on
bridge; fell off.
SYNOPSIS: PFC Jimmy
Lee Coleman was a rifleman in Company C, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry
Division. On March 6, 1969, Coleman was serving as point man for his
company on a reconnaissance mission in Kien Hoa Province, a few miles
southeast of the city of My Tho.
Coleman's company prepared
to cross a small bamboo bridge by firing on the opposing bank with M-79
grenade launchers to try to draw fire from enemy forces, if they were
present. The company received no return fire, so Coleman proceeded across
the bridge to provide security on the other side. As he started across,
enemy fire erupted from the other side. When the firing barage ceased,
Coleman had disappeared.
An examination of the
bridge showed blood stains where Coleman had last been seen standing on
the bridge. Divers from the Company C searched the area around the bridge
and downstream, but found no trace of PFC Coleman. He was declared
Missing In Action.
In 1974, a Viet Cong
rallier reported that Coleman had been shot as he crossed the bridge, and
the rallier had seen him fall into the river.
Whether Jimmy Lee Coleman
died as a result of his gunshot wound or drowned when he fell into the
river has never been learned. As far as the U.S. Army is concerned, he is
dead. For his family and friends, however, doubts remain.
Since 1975, "millions of
documents" and over 250,000 interviews have been conducted concerning
Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities are certain that
many Americans remain alive today. Whether Jimmy Lee Coleman is one of
them is not certain. But as long as one American is being held against
his will, we must do everything in our power to bring him home.
|
