COLEMAN, JIMMY LEE

Name: Jimmy Lee Coleman
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company C, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 20 November 1949 (Sylacauga AL)
Home City of Record: Goodwater AL
Date of Loss: 06 March 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 101730N 1052251E (XS512379)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1401
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

REMARKS: SHOT ON BRIDGE - FELL OFF

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.

SYNOPSIS: PFC Jimmy L. Coleman was a rifleman in Company C, 4th Battalion,
47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. On March 6, 1959, Coleman was serving
as point man for his company on a reconnaissance mission in Kien Hoa
Province, a few miles southeast of the city of My Tho.

Coleman's company prepared to cross a small bamboo bridge by firing on the
opposing bank with M-79 grenade launchers to try to draw fire from enemy
forces, if they were present. The company received no return fire, so
Coleman proceeded across the bridge to provide security on the other side.
As he started across, enemy fire erupted from the other side. When the
firing barrage ceased, Coleman had disappeared.

An examination of the bridge showed blood stains where Coleman had last been
seen standing on the bridge. Divers from Company C searched the area around
the bridge and downstream, but found no trace of PFC Coleman. He was
declared Missing in Action.

In 1974 a Viet Cong rallier reported that Coleman had been shot as he
crossed the bridge, and the rallier had seen him fall into the river.

Whether Jimmy Coleman died as a result of his gunshot wound or drowned when
he fell into the river has never been learned. As far as the U.S. Army is
concerned, he is dead. For family and friends, however, doubts remain.

Since 1975, "millions of documents" and over 250,000 interviews have been
conducted concerning Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities
are certain that many Americans remain alive today. Whether Jimmy Coleman is
one of them is not certain. But as long as one American is being held
against his will, we must do everything in our power to bring him home.

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