James Harvey “Mickey”Ledford
Military Data
Unit L Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III MAF
Casualty Data
Start Tour 25 April 1968
Incident Date 15 May 1968
Casualty Date 15 May 1968
Age at Loss 18
Location, South Vietnam
Remains Body recovered
Casualty Type Hostile, died outright
Casualty Reason Ground casualty
Casualty Detail Gun or small arms fire
Vietnam Wall Panel 60E Line 02
gussie wynegar
tngogussie@yahoo.com
139 hidden farm drive johnson city tn 37601 United States
Tender Young Hero
James, Mickynickname, I shall always remember your sweet face, freckles going across your nose and cheeks. Your smile was so beautiful. You were a fine and wonderful young man! Mickey, YOU ARE MY HERO!! You are not forgotten….you will never be forgotten….God Bless you Tender Young Hero
–Gussie Wynegar
Mar 4, 2007
Mickey was one of my best friends at West Side Elementary in Johnson City. His dad drove a cab. They lived in an apartment in the alley behind my grandparents house. MIckey was a good kid who had a rough life. I lost track of him after the 6th grade but I know he used to go to the Boys and Girls Club in town. He was my friend. He fell in with a group of kids who got in trouble but he wasn’t a mean natured person. I think his dad had been a marine in WWII but I’m not sure. God bless you Mickey. Thank you for being my friend. I remember I got the worst whipping of my life from my grandpa because I was mean to you one day when we were playing in the back yard.
–Dave Cox, May 23, 2016
Mickey was a hero. He died serving our country. He died so we could live, and enjoy freedom that a republic provides.
Mickey was a cousin, and childhood playmate to me. When we visited his
Dad’s building material business, Mickey and I would mix batches of sand and oil. Go figure! It was just fun.
Mickey was gentle, and shy.
His was the first funeral that I attended. I had seen lots of TV footage of the Vietnam war as it was the first war to
be played out in real time. I never thought that Mickey would be one of the many fallen heroes.
I walked up to his casket and looked at him, dressed out in full military uniform. That shocked me to see the results
and cost of war.
At Mickey’s funeral, he was given a full military burial, with a 21 gun salute, and Taps.
His Mom passed out and had to be picked up off of the ground and revived.
–Submitted by his first cousin, Suzie Tice
Photo submitted by Allen D. Jackson, USAF (Ret.)
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 26 December 1949
- Date of death: 15 May 1968
- County: Washington
- Hometown: Johnson City
- Service Branch: Marine Corps
- Division/Assignment: 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division
- Conflict: Vietnam
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Roselawn Memorial Park, Johnson City, Washington County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XXIV, Middle Panel
- Sponsored by: Suzie Tice
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