James Allen Boots

BornFeb. 9, 1948
DiedNov. 13. 1968
Service BranchArmy
RankPrivate First Class
Rating or JobGrenadier
Unit26th Infantry
CampaignViet Nam
Military CitationsPurple Heart, Bronze Star
Honors 
Family 
Notes

Pfc. James Allen Boots

Feb. 9, 1948 - Nov. 13. 1968

Chico

James Boots, a native Chicoan, left high school to join the Job Corps, and worked at local farms and the Holly Sugar Mill in Hamilton City before joining the Army in November 1967. He was sent to Vietnam in May 1968.

A grenadier with a 26th Infantry long range reconnaissance patrol, Boots was killed in a firelight near Lai Khe six months later. According to his posthumous Bronze Star citation, Boots was mortally wounded when he “moved through a hail of hostile rounds.. in a courageous attempt to silence enemy bunkers.”

He was two months shy of his 21st birthday.

Chico News & Review, May 26, 1988

 

Sources

National Archives

Chico News & Review

Mementos