OSBORN JAMES CAROLL

CPT James Caroll Osborn was a potential VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 08/21/1971 at the age of 28.8 from A/C accident
Austin, TX
Flight Classes 67-501 and 67-19
Date of Birth 10/19/1942
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with 128 AHC in 68-69
Call sign in Vietnam TOMAHAWK 19
This information was provided by Milton "Dave" O'Quinn, TAGCEN Casualty database.

More detail on this person: Dave O'Quinn wrote to Russ Layton: James Osborn, wife Diane, was stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany, after Vietnam and went to England and imported a dozen and a half lotus cars for everybody else and made enough profit to own two or three. My wife Theresa and I, while stationed at Nellingen, near Stuttgart, went to see them in early 1970. Theresa was pregnant for our son Chris who was born in June 70. I'm sorry to inform you but the Info I have is that Jim was killed sometime thereafter. It's been a long time but, Theresa and I just discussed it and we both seem to recall it was a helicopter crash. (Wire Strike?) I

can't recall how I got this information, Diane may very well have written to us. I don't have his name or SSN on any of my orders. If you do, you might run the numbers against the SSN Death records. He was a neat guy, loved making those slot cars.

Russ Layton wrote: I feel kind-of responsible for Jim's importing profits since he and I collaborated on importing stereo and camera equipment in VN. I can't remember how we got the literature but maybe we sent away for it or we got it from the PX. He and I use to take orders from all of the guys that wanted to buy cheap equipment and I think he went to Japan twice and I sent him to China once to get a bunch of camera equipment. We use to love it because when he got back we would set up all of the equipment in his hooch and try it out before we turned it over to the guys that bought it. I remember one night we had like $30,000.00 worth of stereo equipment (at 1969 Japan prices) set up all over the hooch and we were comparing what stuff sounded the best. A lot of the guys would come in to hear the music and BS. We thought we were so cool with the incredible quality of music we could produce and we were all kidding around with one of the officers because he only had this stupid little boom box stereo and he was perfectly satisfied with its quality.

He was probably the only officer that wasn't receiving any of our imported equipment. I remember when it finally hit me, later that night, and I told Jim that it was a lot of fun teasing that officer for what we considered junky quality music but we had just spent every last penny we earned on music while he was sending his money home and maybe we weren't as smart as we thought we were. I second-guess that now because I still have all of the stereo and camera equipment and still use most of it but then maybe he's a millionaire now. I even borrowed money from one of my fellow Tomahawks when we landed in Yokota, Japan on our way home, just so I could buy a reverberater. I had to get money wired to me to pay him back when we got to San Francisco and I missed him, so I had to mail it to his home in N or S Carolina. I ended up with Patrick Finch's Polaroid flash attachment and Macauslin's AR speakers because Finch was killed in the June 4, 69 crash and Mac was shot in the chest and shipped back to the states for better medical treatment and to recuperate. Both of them were gone before the stuff came in and I remember packing Finch's stuff up for the family and wondering whether I should send it to the family when it came in. Finch replaced Mac as my roommate when Mac was shot. I was developing a reputation for loosing roommates but I assure you that I had nothing to do with it.

Crash Kills Austin Man In Germany

Army Capt. James Carroll Osborn, 28, of Austin, was killed Saturday in Schweinfurt, Germany in a helicopter accident. Funeral is pending at Wilke-Clay Funeral Home here.

Osborne, whose Austin address is 3505 South Lamar, was serving as a helicopter pilot with the Seventh Cavalry Division in Germany at the time of the crash.

Osborn was a member of Windsor Baptist Church and a graduate of Johnston High School. He attended the University of Texas before joining the Army. Osborn was a member of the American Aviators Association and a graduate of warrant officer schools at Ft. Wolters and Ft. Rucker, Ala.

Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Diane Osborn of Austin; a son Bradley C. Osborn of Austin; parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. "Bob" Osborn of Austin; a sister, Susan Gail Osborn of Austin; Two brothers, Robert C. Osborn and Gary K. Osborn of Austin; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Schmidtke of Bandera; several aunts and uncles.

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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