Belknap County New Hampshire

Van Aalst, Jared N.
Army Master sergeant

Jared N. Van Aalst, age 34, from Laconia, New Hampshire, Belknap county.

Parents: Neville Van Aalst and Nancy Van Aalst
Spouse: Katie Van Aalst
Children: Kaylie Van Aalst and Ava Van Aalst

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Plymouth Regional High (1993)
Military history: Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Bronze Star and Purple Heart, two each. Enlisted 1995.

Date of death: Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Death details: Died of wounds suffered while his unit was conducting combat operations.

Source: Department of Defense, Nashua Telegraph, Military Times

Dubia, Lawrence Normond
Marines Master sergeant

Lawrence Normond Dubia, age 35, from Tilton, New Hampshire, Belknap county.

Parents: Lawrence J. Dubia
Spouse: Sandra Kay Dubna (Walter)
Children: Lawrence, Christopher, 13; Lori Ann, 12; Jeffery Steven, 10; Gregory Michael, 9

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, February 4, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile in South Vietnam; killed when an explosive device exploded and fragments hit him.

Source: National Archives, Simpson’s Leader-Times (1970)

McCarthy, Albert Anthony
Army Sergeant 1st class

Albert Anthony McCarthy, age 28, from Laconia, New Hampshire, Belknap county.

Spouse: Laura McCarthy
Children: Stepchildren Betty, Joseph, Charles Boudreau

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Master Sergeant Albert Anthony McCarthy joined the U.S. Army from New Hampshire and was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company L was near Unsan with the 3rd Battalion when it was hit by an enemy attack and forced to withdraw. Master Sergeant McCarthy went missing during the withdrawal, although specific details surrounding his loss are unknown. At war’s end, returning prisoners of war (POWs) affirmed that MSG McCarthy had died in battle; however, his remains were not recovered following the battle and he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Master Sergeant McCarthy is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Fitchburg Sentinel (1950)

Caron, Roger H.
Army Private 1st class

Roger H. Caron, age 19, from New Hampshire, Belknap county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, January 17, 1945
Death details: On August 13, 1987, the Central Identification Laboratory–Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Roger H. Caron, missing from World War II. Private First Class Caron, who entered the U.S. Army from New Hampshire, served with Company D, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. On January 17, 1945, he was a machine gunner supporting rifle companies attacking German positions near the village of Rothbach in northern France. He was killed in a German counterattack, though the precise circumstances of his loss are unknown, and his body was not immediately recovered. In 1986, a French national located the remains of an American soldier in a foxhole near Reipertswiller, France. U.S. Army Memorial Affairs Activity-Europe personnel recovered these remains and analysts later identified thes remains as those of PFC Caron.

Source: National Archives

Curley, George Armand Jr.
Army Private

George Armand Jr. Curley, age 19, from Belknap County Laconia, New Hampshire .

Parents: George A. Curley

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details:

On March 3, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Pfc. George Armand Curley Jr., missing from the Korean War.

Curley entered the U.S. Army from New Hampshire and served with Headquarters Services Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken captive on November 30, 1950, during his unit’s attempt to fight through a heavily defended enemy roadblock near Kunu-Ri, North Korea. Repatriated POWs later reported that Curley died in February or March 1951 while held captive at Camp 5 at the Pyoktong POW camp cluster. He was likely buried nearby, but his remains were not among those returned from this area after the ceasefire. In September and October 1954 during Operation GLORY, the United Nations Command and the Chinese Communist Forces exchanged the remains of fallen service personnel. After those remains were processed by the Central Identification Unit (CIU) Laboratory at Kokura, Japan, the CIU was unable to positively associate any loss with Curley. In 1956, all unidentified remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and interred there as Unknowns. In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. On November 18, 2019, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan, one set of Unknown remains was disinterred by DPAA personnel and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of Curley.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Concord Monitor (1951)

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