Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Greg Ninerd Riewer, age 30, from Frazee, Minnesota, Becker county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company A, 2D Battalion, 136Th Inf antry, Alexandria, Minnesota
Date of death: Friday, March 23, 2007
Death details: Died when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Habbaniyah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Michael DeWitt, age 32, from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Becker county.
Service era: Post cold war
Date of death: Thursday, May 28, 1998
Death details: Killed when his SH-60F “”Seahawk”” made an emergency landing near Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada
Source: U.S. Navy
Errol Lynn Kent, age 21, from Becker County Ogema, Minnesota .
Parents: Errol L. Kent
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, November 3, 1971
Death details: Non-hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Minneapolis Star (1971)
Darrell Wayne Hanson, age 21, from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Becker county.
Parents: Lester and Ione
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, June 2, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Minneapolis Star (1970)
Budd Austin Osterman, age 23, from Frazee, Minnesota, Becker county.
Parents: William R. Osterman
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: From November 20 through 23, 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy conducted a large-scale amphibious assault on the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa as part of Operation Galvanic, the Allied capture of the Gilbert Islands. Located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, Tarawa was a crucial stepping stone in the planned U.S. offensive across the central Pacific toward Japan. The Japanese garrison on Tarawa’s main island of Betio was well-entrenched with hundreds of bunkers and gun positions behind formidable beach obstacles. The first wave of Marines approaching the shore encountered lower-than-expected tides, forcing them to leave their landing craft on the reef and wade the hundreds of yards to the beach under intense enemy fire. The heaviest number of U.S. casualties were suffered during this phase of the landing. Eventually, rising tides allowed U.S. warships to maneuver closer to shore and support the troops with effective naval gunfire. More Marines landed on the second day, launching attacks inland from the beaches and seizing the Japanese airfield on the island. However, the enemy launched vicious counterattacks and two more days of intense fighting were needed to secure Betio. The last enemy strongpoints were taken on the morning of November 23. The fighting on Betio cost the Marines nearly 3,000 casualties but enabled U.S. forces to press further across the Pacific and yielded valuable tactical lessons that reduced U.S. losses in future amphibious landings. Private First Class Budd Austin Osterman, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Minnesota, served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa and was buried in Cemetery #11; however, after the war, his remains were not located. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Osterman is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency