James the son of William R. Rust and Christina M. Rust of Malone NY enlisted in the US marine Corps on November 17 1965 in Albany NY. In Vietnam he was assigned to and serving with Company K, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st MARDIV (Rein) FMF.

On September 4, the 3d Battalion launched Operation SWIFT, within Quang Nam and Quang Tim Provinces with Company I as the Battalion reserve. On the third day of the mission, at approximately 15:30 hours, Company I now on the attack made contact with enemy forces in the vicinity of Hill 48 in Thang Binh District. Initially the Marines faced light rifle fire which increased in volume and joined by automatic weapons by the enemy as they moved forward towards their objective. Company I was reinforced by Company K and M battling a large enemy force into the night. The Marines took numerous casualties; one of them was PFC Rust who was killed in action as a result of hostile rifle fire.