James was assigned as a corpsman to Golf Company,2nd Battalion,3rd Marine Division.He was wounded March 4 as a result of multiple fragmentation wounds to the body,during a  patrol engagement with enemy forces,10 kilometers east southeast of Phu Loc,while participating in Operation Houston. Due to the severity of his wounds he was sent to the US Air Force Hospital in Tachikawa, Japan,where he died March 12, 1968