Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Taurean Travanti Harris, age 22, from Liberty, Mississippi, Amite county.
Parents: Yolanda Wagner
Service era: Iraq
Schools: Amite County High
Military history: Company A, 202D Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Gordon, Ga
Date of death: Thursday, August 2, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Titan Valley, Afghanistan
Cemetery: West Jerusalem Baptist Church cemetery
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, findagrave.com
Willie James Ray, age 21, from Centreville, Mississippi, Amite county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, October 6, 1970
Death details: Died when the armored vehicles on which he was a gunner was destroyed by a land mine in Vietnam.
Source: National Archives, Chicago Tribune (1970)
James Samuel Smith, age 19, from Liberty, Mississippi, Amite county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, November 21, 1944
Death details: On June 13, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class James S. Smith, missing from World War II. Private First Class Smith entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Louisiana and served in Company C, 2nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. He went missing on November 20, 1943, during the assault on Betio Island during the invasion of the Tarawa Atoll. PFC Smith could not be found following the battle and was presumed lost. He remained unaccounted-for until 2011 when the nongovernmental organization History Flight Inc. discovered a burial site on Betio. DPAA excavated the site and recovered human remains which were accessioned by the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii. Analysts used material evidence and dental comparisons to individually identify Private First Class Smith from among these remains in 2016.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
John Russell Melton, age 23, from Liberty, Mississippi, Amite county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On February 1, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman First Class John Russell Melton, missing from World War II. Seaman First Class Melton entered the U.S. Navy from Mississippi. He was a crew member aboard the USS West Virginia (BB-48) on December 7, 1941, when it came under attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The West Virginia suffered multiple torpedo hits and sank in the attack, and SEA1 was killed in the incident. His remains were eventually recovered from the vessel; however, they could not be identified at the time and were buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2017, DPAA personnel exhumed thirty-five unknown remains associated with the West Virginia from the NMCP. Laboratory analysis led to the successful identification of SEA1 Melton from among these remains.
Source: Nation Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency,findagrave.com