Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Michael J. Dutcher, age 22, from Asheville, North Carolina, Buncombe county.
Parents: Teresa Gentry Dutcher and David Duther (died in 2005)
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.
Date of death: Thursday, September 15, 2011
Death details: Died while conductin combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Source: Department of Defense, Citizen-Times, Military Times
Kenneth Dale Hess, age 26, from Asheville, North Carolina, Buncombe county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: A Troop, 4Th Squadron, 14Th Cavalry, 172D Sbct, Fort Wainwright, Alaska
Date of death: Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Death details: killed April 11 as the result of a suicide bomber attack while he was conducting a dismounted patrol in Rawah, Iraq.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Joseph Randall Ray, age 29, from Asheville, North Carolina, Buncombe county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company A, 391St Engineer Battalion, Asheville, Nc
Date of death: Sunday, March 12, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Asadabad, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Mark Erwin Allen, age 19, from Buncombe County Asheville, North Carolina .
Parents: Virginia Buckner Allen
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, January 26, 1972
Cemetery: Piney Mountain near Weaverville
Source: National Archives, Asheville Times (1972)
Richard Lee Tate, age 20, from Asheville, North Carolina, Buncombe county.
Parents: Homer Tate
Spouse: Helen Praytor Tate
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, October 23, 1970
Death details: Died in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Asheville Citizen Times (1970)
David Joseph Goudlock, age 23, from Buncombe County Asheville, North Carolina .
Parents: David J. Goudlock Sr.
Service era: Korea
Schools: Stephens Lee High graduate, Tuskegee Institute
Date of death: Friday, January 5, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant David Joseph Goudlock Jr., who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, served with Battery B, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri south to Sunchon, North Korea. He was forced to march north to the Pukchin Tarigol Valley, where he died of exhaustion, malnutrition and dysentery in a small, unidentified village on January 5, 1951. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Sergeant Goudlock is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Asheville Citizen Times (1951)