SSGT James Marvin Ball, BHS 1961, Vietnam

James Marvin Ball, BHS 1961, Vietnam

SSGT James Marvin Ball was born on 8 September 1942, in Murray, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, his father, Earl Wesley Ball Jr., was 21 and his mother, Marvel LaVern Smith, was 19. 

He lived in Richmond, Contra Costa, California, United States in 1950 and Burbank, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1960. He registered for military service in 1970. 

He died on 16 September 1970, in Quảng Nam, Vietnam, at the age of 28, and was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Marital Status: Married - Wendy Iris Bauer, married on July 17,1966, the first child was Julie Ann Ball born Nov.28 1967 the second child was Kevin Brian Ball born Feb. 7 1969. Daughter married, Julie Ball Taylor.

Ground Casualty

During September 1970, the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division conducted offensive operations in their assigned area of responsibility west and south of Da Nang in Quang Nam Province, RVN. Their primary mission was to defend the Da Nang vital area military complex. At approximately 9:40 AM on September 11th, two Marines from H Company, 2/1 found a booby trap placed at a waterhole 100 yards from their platoon patrol base located eight kilometers (4.8 miles) northwest of Dien Ban. The boobytrap was an M33 grenade in a C-rations can with an 18-inch tripwire suspended across the trail. The Marines removed the boobytrap and carried it towards their patrol base when they were intercepted by a platoon sergeant, SSGT James M. Ball, who took custody of the device and moved to a nearby berm to dispose of it. 

His plan was to remove the grenade from the can and throw it over the berm. The platoon radio operator and corpsman observing Ball from 40 yards away admonished him not to separate the grenade from the can because the delay mechanism may have been removed. Ignoring their warning, the grenade exploded six feet from Ball after pulling it from the can. He was critically injured, receiving fragmentation wounds to the neck, chest, abdomen, right shoulder, back, and right hip. Three other Marines nearby were also injured, one critically. They were medivacked to the 1st Medical Battalion in Da Nang. Ball required resuscitation upon arrival followed by emergency surgery. He never regained consciousness and subsequently developed bilateral (double) pneumonia. Despite massive antibiotics and assisted respiration, Ball’s condition failed to improve, and he expired at 9:25 PM on September 16, 1970. 

Ball, 28, was on his third tour of Vietnam. He had been extensively trained in handling booby traps, and his unit reportedly received weekly lectures on booby trap precautions including the Viet Cong practice of removing the delay device from grenades. It was noted in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines Command Chronology for September 1970 that the failure of Ball to follow practices emphasized in training at the cost of his life would be reiterated in future instruction. 

[Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Command Chronology, 2d Bn 1st Marines, September 1970” at ttu.edu]