Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Orlando Antonio Bonilla, age 27, from Killeen, Texas, Bell county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: F Troop, 1St Squadron, 7Th Cavalry, 1St Cav Div (Tf Baghdad), Fort Hood, Tx
Date of death: Saturday, January 29, 2005
Death details: Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Louis Wayne Qualls, age 20, from Temple, Texas, Bell county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 2Dbn, 14Thmar, (3Dbn, 1Stmar, Rct-1, 1St Mardiv), 4Th Mardiv, Grand Prairie, Tx
Date of death: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Joe Larry Dunigan Jr., age 37, from Belton, Texas, Bell county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company B 1St Bn 16Th Infantry, (1St Id), Fort Riley, Ks 66442
Date of death: Thursday, March 11, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Daniel Keith Methvin, age 22, from Belton, Texas, Bell county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc 1St Battalion 67Th Armor, Fort Hood, Tx 76544
Date of death: Saturday, July 26, 2003
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Scott Lee Roth, age 19, from Kileen, Texas, Bell county.
Service era: Operation Just Cause Panama
Date of death: Wednesday, December 20, 1989
Cemetery: Rock Island National, Illinois
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Arlington National Cemetery, Department of Veterans Affairs
Albert Charles Smith, age 27, from Belton, Texas, Bell county.
Spouse: Patricia Gay Smith
Children: Bruce, 13; Wesley, 9
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division
Date of death: Monday, May 4, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Cambodia. His wife received a letter from him two days before his death where he expressed concern about going into Cambodia.
Source: National Archives, Fort Worth Star Telegram (1970)
Milo Clinton Isaacs, age 40, from Temple, Texas, Bell county.
Spouse: Kathleen Isaacs
Children: Sharon Kaye, Milo Clinton Isaaacs Jr.
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: Company B, 815 Engineer Battalion Construction
Date of death: Thursday, January 22, 1970
Death details: Killed while riding on a military vehicle in an area under enemy attack
Source: National Archives, The Californian (1970)
Earl Walton Ferguson, age 31, from Bell County Belton, Texas .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1945
Death details: On December 13, 1944, Japanese forces in the Philippines began the transfer of 1,621 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) to Japan. The POWs were to make the journey aboard transport ships whose harsh conditions and extreme overcrowding led survivors to refer to them as “Hell Ships.” The ships also lacked markings that would distinguish them from any other military target, causing some of them to be attacked by Allied forces who could not identify them as POW transports. On December 14, 1944, Allied aircraft attacked the first ship, the Oryoku Maru, in Subic Bay in the Philippines, killing many Allied POWs who became lost in the water, sank with the ship, or were washed ashore. Survivors of the bombing were put aboard two other ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru, to continue on to Japan. During the journey, while anchored in Takao Harbor, Formosa (present-day Taiwan), the Enoura Maru was attacked by Allied aircraft from the USS Hornet (CV-8), killing Allied POWs who were lost in the water, on board the ship, or on the nearby shore. Survivors of the Enoura Maru bombing were loaded onto the Brazil Maru, and reached Japan on January 30, 1945. As a result of these incidents, Allied POWs were lost in the Philippines, at sea between the Philippines and Taiwan, while anchored in Taiwan, at sea between Taiwan and Japan, and in Japan. The attacks on these POW transports ultimately resulted in a series of death notifications from the Japanese government through the International Red Cross (IRC), and some casualties were given up to five different dates of death at various locations during the transfer. Witness accounts from surviving POWs offer detailed information for a handful of casualties, but the specific dates of loss and/or last-known locations for many of these POWs are based on the most recent reported date of death. Ensign Earl Walton Ferguson, who joined the U.S. Navy from New York, was stationed aboard the USS Perry (DD-340) for inshore patrol duty in the Philippines during World War II. He was taken as a POW following the Japanese invasion and interned in the islands until December 1944, when he was put aboard the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. Records indicate ENS Ferguson was killed several weeks later in the attack on the Enoura Maru; however, these reports often involve information solely furnished by enemy governments, with some casualties given multiple dates of death. Future research may determine that these reports were inaccurate. Ensign Fergurson’s remains could not be identified following the war, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Ensign Ferguson is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Kenneth D. Farris from Texas, Bell county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, November 28, 1944
Death details: On April 23, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private Kenneth Dayle Farris, missing from World War II. Private Farris, who entered the U.S. Army from Texas, served with Company B, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. On November 28, 1944, Private Farris was with his unit preparing to advance to the town of Grosshau, Germany, when he was wounded by artillery and left the front line on his own for the battalion aid station. He failed to report to an aid station, and likely died of his wounds but was not recovered at the time. In 1946, the American Graves Registration Command recovered an unburied set of remains in a minefield near Gey, Germany, the area where Private Farris’s company was in combat. The remains were interred at a U.S. military cemetery in Belgium. The remains were disinterred in 1948 for reprocessing, but when an identification could not be made, they were interred as unknowns at the Epinal American Cemetery in France. In 2017, these unknown remains were disinterred from the Epinal American Cemetery and sent to DPAA for analysis. U.S. analysts used advanced forensic techniques to identify the remains as those of Privee Farris.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Elbert W. Moore from Texas, Bell county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, July 1, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Elbert W. Moore joined the U.S. Army from Texas and served with 803rd Engineers Battalion in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery and malaria on July 1, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Moore is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency