Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Alyssa Cahoon, age 17, from Wayne County Pleasant Mount, Pennsylvania .
Parents: Stephen and Susan Decker Cahoon
Service era: Post Afghanistan
Schools: Forest City Regional High
Date of death: Thursday, August 25, 2022
Death details: Died at Prisma Health Richland Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina from a rare heart rhythm abnormality during basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina after collapsing during physical training.
Source: Millitary.com
Kyle Matthew Holder, age 17, from Conroe, Texas, Montgomery county.
Parents: Bryant Holder and Michelle Holder
Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: The Woodlands High (2010)
Military history: 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment (Reconnaissance and Survelliance), 525th Battlefield Survelliance Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Enlisted 2010.
Date of death: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Death details: Died in a non-combat related incident at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan
Cemetery: Forest Park, The Woodlands Cemetery
Source: Department of Defense, Houston Chronicle, Dignity Memorial
Tandy W. Wells, age 17, from Onslow County Jacksonville, North Carolina .
Spouse: Cleta Wells
Service era: Beirut bombings
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terroist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Charlotte Observer (1983)
George Ronald Jr. Rovolis, age 17, from Savannah, Georgia, Chatham county.
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Monday, January 28, 1980
Death details: Among the 23 who died when the Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn collided with a tanker near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay in Florida.
Cemetery: Greenwich in Savannah
Source: United State Coast Guard, Tampa Bay Times (1980), findagrave.com
Wayne Bibbs, age 17, from Blue Island, Illinois, Cook county.
Parents: Rebecca Bibbs (died in 1996) and Homer Bibbs Sr. (died in 1989)
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Eisenhower High, dropped out in 1970 and joined the Army
Date of death: Sunday, June 11, 1972
Death details: Army Capt. Arnold E. Holm Jr. of Waterford, Conn.; Spc. Robin R. Yeakley of South Bend, Ind.; and Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Chicago, were buried as a group, in a single casket representing the entire crew, on Nov. 9, 2011 in Arlington National Cemetery. On June 11, 1972, Holm was the pilot of an OH-6A Cayuse helicopter flying a reconnaissance mission in Thua Thien-Hue Province, South Vietnam. Also on board were his observer, Yeakley, and his door gunner, Bibbs. The aircraft made a second pass over a ridge, where enemy bunkers had been sighted, exploded and crashed, exploding again upon impact. Crews of other U.S. aircraft, involved in the mission, reported receiving enemy ground fire as they overflew the crash site looking for survivors.
Source: National Archives, Department of Defense, Southtown Star (1970), Chicago Tribune (2006)
Richard Rudolph Kapsha, age 17, from Allegheny County Glassport, Pennsylvania .
Parents: Genevive M. Anuskiewicz
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: South Allegheny High (1969)
Military history: 23rd Infantry Division
Date of death: Saturday, November 6, 1971
Death details: Non-hostile, died in South Vietnam.
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1971), Pittsburgh Press (1971)
Theodore Texas Rowley, age 17, from Chillicothe, Ohio, Ross county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, October 12, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Willie Edward Elsenburg, age 17, from Waco, Texas, McLennan county.
Spouse: Florence J. Elsenburg
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, May 27, 1970
Source: National Archives, Lubbock Avalanche Journal (1970)
Robert Ochab, age 17, from Hollis, New York, New York City county.
Parents: Stella Ochab
Spouse: Eileen
Children: Terri Ann, 3
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Saint John’s Preparatory School in Brooklyn (1959), Saint John’s University in Jamaica graduate, Columbia University
Military history: 366th Tactical Fighter Wing
Date of death: Wednesday, January 7, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Glens Falls Times (1970)
Frank Andrew Hohman Jr., age 17, from Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1961
Death details: Among 77 killed in Richmond, Virginia when the engines aboard their plane failed and it crashed into marshland. The crew and passengers died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The flight was enroute from Baltimore to Columbia, South Carolina.
Cemetery: Oak Lawn in Eastpoint, Maryland
Source: Associated Press (1961), findagrave.com, Baltimore Evening Sun (1961)