Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Rui A. Relvas from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia county.
Service era: Beirut bombings
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terrorist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance
Sean R. Gallagher from North Andover, Massachusetts, Essex county.
Service era: Beirut bombings
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terrorist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance
Robert A. Conley from Orlando, Florida, Orange county.
Service era: Beirut bombings
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terrorist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance
Robert W Gray from Virginia , Alexandria, City of county.
Date of death: Thursday, January 27, 1983
Death details: Was a member of a maintenance crew working on a B-52G bomber when killed by an explosion in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Killed were: Robin D. Rise, Michael F. McDonald, Robert W. Gray, Anthony M. Salva
Source: Library of Virginia, Richmond
Arthur L Hedrick from Virginia.
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Friday, April 17, 1981
Source: Library of Virginia, Richmond
Herbert S Blake from Topping, Virginia, Middlesex county.
Parents: Nellie Walton Blake and Reuben A. Blake
Spouse: Karen Carter Blake
Children: Rebecca Lynn Blake and Crystal Lee Blake
Military history: Company C, 276th Engineer Battalion of the National Guard, West Point
Date of death: Wednesday, October 22, 1980
Death details: Died after he was injured in a fall at the Chesapeake Corp of Virginia
Cemetery: Harmony Grove Baptist Church, Topping
Source: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Newport News Daily Press (1980)
William A Jones from Portsmouth, Virginia, Portsmouth county.
Service era: Cold War
Military history: 77th Ohio
Date of death: Saturday, February 23, 1980
Source: Library of Virginia, Richmond
Edward Patrick Cummings from Jersey City, New Jersey, Hudson county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, May 26, 1954
Death details: On July 11, 1952, an AD-3Q Skyraider (bureau number 122863) with a crew of two departed the USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) on a strike mission against enemy targets in Pyongyang. While diving at its target, the Skyraider was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed near Pyongyang. Witnesses did not see any parachutes leave the aircraft before it crashed, and the fate of the two crew members is unknown. They were not reported to be prisoners of war, and their remains have not been recovered. Lieutenant Edward Patrick Cummings, who joined the U.S. Navy from New Jersey, served with Detachment 41, Composite Squadron 33, embarked aboard the Bon Homme Richard. He was the pilot of this Skyraider when it crashed and he remains unaccounted-for. Today, Lieutenant Cummings is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Sterling M Burdick from California, Los Angeles county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, June 12, 1953
Death details: During the last two years of the Korean War, the opposing forces were arrayed across the 38th Parallel, with neither side able to make much progress into the other’s territory. Both sides maintained forward observer outposts, and these often proved to be targets of opportunity to the opposing force. On June 12, 1953, Battery A of the 987th Armored Field Artillery Battalion was manning an outpost southeast of Kumsong-ni when Chinese Communist Forces began bombarding the outpost with heavy mortar fire. The outpost collapsed, killing the three soldiers inside. Master Sergeant Sterling Martin Burdick, who joined the U.S. Army from California, served with Battery A, 987th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 40th Infantry Division. On June 12, 1953, he was serving as the forward observer at this outpost and was reported missing in action following the Chinese Communist Forces attack. MSG Burdick was not seen to fall in battle and was never reported to be a prisoner of war. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody following the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Master Sergeant Burdick is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Source: Outpost collapse 12 June 1953,MIA
Charles Joseph Brown from Charleston, West Virginia, Kanawha county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: In early November 1950, Brown was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, when the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) attacked the regiment and forced the unit to withdraw to the village of Ipsok, approximately five miles south of Unsan. The survivors attempted to set up a defensive perimeter, but many soldiers became surrounded and attempted to escape and evade the enemy, but the majority were captured and marched to POW camps. Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States 208 boxes of commingled human remains, which helped account for the remains of at least 600 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. Lab analysis, in conjunction with the totality of circumstantial evidence available, established Brown’s remains were included.
Cemetery: Sarasota National
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com