JAMES M. ESPOSITO
Home Of Record:
PENNSAUKEN
County:
Camden
Status:
Killed In Action
Rank:
CPL
Branch Of Service:
Marines
Country Of Incident:
SVN
Date of Casualty:
October 25, 1968
Date of Birth:
August 31, 1944

James Michael Esposito was born on August 31, 1944. He home of record is Pennsauken, NJ. He began his tour of duty in Vietnam on March 12, 1968, serving with the US Marine Corps.

James platoon leader, Russ Finsness, remembers him talking about his family a lot. Two other men, who he served with, Dennis Reynolds and Gene McCandless, both remember him as being a man who was fun and full of life. Gene McCandless recalls:

I quickly slithered up the bank and into a more safe location behind CPL Esposito. I could see him firing rapidly in wide arcs to the hidden enemy on the other shore. In fact, I judged his fire to be too high at some points but he was making the best effort to lay suppressing fire and I dared not challenge him on it. He quickly would reload lengths of machine gun belts into his butterfly-triggered M-60 and continue to fire. He was a steady and effective Marine under fire. MAJ Molineaux was able to call in artillery fire, which blanketed the opposite shore (about 100 yards away), and their fire faded away. We rescued the sunken Amtrac and had a very exciting night road trip back to a secure compound. I felt so secure with warriors like MAJ Molineaux, the maintenance warrant officer, and CPL Esposito.

Dennis Reynolds, who fought with James, remembers him as a “very happy, outgoing person, always with a smile and a laugh, and perhaps a bit of mischief in his eye.”

James Esposito was killed on October 25, 1968. He was killed along with two other men, SGT John Mary Avery and Billy Edward Scott, when the Amtrac they were in hit a landmine. James was conscious after the mine blew up, but he received severe burns to his body. He was flown to the naval hospital where he died later that day.

Source: NJVVMF.


MESSAGES LEFT ON THEWALL-USA (as of 2/28/09)

** Note that some of these messages are from years ago and there contact information may not be good anymore **

j d
Forty years today
Cpl: Today is forty years since you sacrificed all for our country and corp.We all know someday we will join you and other brothers in heaven. We served or tours in hell. We will know we arrived when we see the streets are guarded by United States Marines! Semper Fi!!
Oct 24, 2008

Bill Gallenstein
Zephyrhills Fl
A very proud cold war USAF veteran remembers you on this day. My God bless you and your family always. I salute you, Thank you
Oct 25, 2007

Dennis Reynolds
DennisinOR@aol.com
served together in Vietnam in 1968
Oregon City, OR 97045 USA
I knew Esposito as a lively, funny character with a ready smile and laugh. I believe, he had a wife and three daughters at home in New Jersey, and would love to make contact with them some day. Others knew him, better than I, but I still feel the loss. I have 2 pictures, of him, I can email, but it's not on a website, so cannot include it here.
Tuesday, April 25, 2000

william woolfolk
willtracrat@netscape.net
same amtrac platoon as JIMMY
5168 Cisco Dr.,W.
Jacksonville,Fl 32219 USA
We were close, JIMMY
JIMMY and I, were in the same platoon, at 3rd Amtrac Bn.,1st Marine Div. When we were getting hit, by morter and rocket fire, we would always find each other, in the bunker. We were also together, on the operation, in the boonies, on the day of the land mine explosion. JIMMY, I will never forget you. You live on, in my memory. SEMPER FI, from your hillbilly friend, from Mississippi, WILL
Saturday, July 24, 1999


If you would like to add a story, photo, comment, or contact, please email CCVietnamKIA@gmail.com