Jan. 31, 1963 – A U.S. Army captain was killed today during a running gun fight between Communist guerrillas and South Vietnamese soldiers in the jungle north of Saigon.

 The Defense Department identified the dead officer as Capt. Leon J. Kramer (pictured), whose mother, Mrs. Helen Kramer, lives in Trenton, N.J. His death brought to 64 the total of Americans killed in action or by other causes in South Vietnam since the U.S. became involved in the anti-guerrilla war. 

The captain was serving as infantry adviser to a Vietnamese Army unit pursuing two Viet Cong companies in the north central highlands of Quang Ngai province, 360 miles north of Saigon. The troops closed in on the Communists this morning. 

In the fighting that ensued, the captain was hit in the chest by a Communist bullet. U.S. sources said the Vietnamese troops continued to pour rifle fire into the Red positions until the Viet Cong broke off the action and fled into the jungle.