Eleanor LeBeau, age 29, from Saint Clair County Belleville, Illinois .
Service era: Post Afghanistan
Military history: Assigned to”the Red Lions” of Marine Medium Tilrotor Squadron 363
Date of death: Sunday, August 27, 2023
Death details: Killed in the crash of an MV-22B off the coast of Darwin, Australia
Source: USNI News
David Allen Jr Schaefer, age 27, from Belleville, Illinois, St Clair county.
Children: Jason Phillips, 13; Logan Schaefer, 7; Savanna Schaefer, 6
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company C, 1St Battalion, 2D Infantry, Schweinfurt, Germany
Date of death: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Cemetery: Jefferson Barracks National
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Ja’Mel Antwon Bryant, age 22, from Belleville, Illinois, St Clair county.
Service era: Iraq
Parent: Cecilia Eiland and Antonio Bryant, stepmother Pamela Bryant
Planned to marry his fiance, Rochelle Jumper of Redding, California, in February 2009
School: Belleville West High (2005)
Military history: Hhc, 40th Engineer Battalion, 2 Bct, Smith Barracks, Germany
Date of death: Saturday, September 27, 2008
Death details: Killed in a vehicle accident in Baghdad, Iraq
Cemetery: Jefferson Barracks National
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Edwin Herbert Dazachacon, age 38, from Belleville, Illinois, St Clair county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hsc, 3D Battalion, 7Th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, Nc
Date of death: Monday, February 13, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Deh Rawod, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Glenn R. Eisenhour, age 21, from Belleville, Illinois, St. Clair county.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: East St. Louis Senior High (1964)
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Monday, November 13, 1967
Death details: Hostile, died while missing in South Vietnam
Cemetery: Lake View Memorial Gardens, St. Louis
Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association
Philip Cory Smith, age 21, from Saint Clair County Belleville, Illinois .
Parents: J. G. Smith
Spouse: Sandra Smith
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, March 29, 1966
Death details: Hostile, killed in South Vietnam when he was struck by mine fragments while dismounting his helicopter.
Source: National Archives
Roy John Jr. Higgins, age 24, from Saint Clair County Belleville, Illinois . Their last known residence was in Phoenix, Arizona.
Parents: Anna M. Higgins
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, March 5, 1966
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Cemetery: Saint Francis
Source: National Archives, Arizona Republic (1966)
Leslie Edwin Berning, age 19, from Saint Clair County Belleville, Illinois .
Parents: Edward Berning
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, October 25, 1944
Death details: Killed in the sinking of the USS Gambier Bay during the Battle of Leyte.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Belleville Daily Advocate (1944)
James Elvis Matteson from Belleville, Illinois, Saint Clair county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, November 25, 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. Corporal James Elvis Matteson joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Colorado and served with the 3rd Marine Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured on Corregidor Island following the American surrender on May 6, 1942, and died of dysentery on November 25, 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, Corporal Matteson is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Frank C. Fox from Saint Clair County Belleville, Illinois .
Spouse: Dora
Children: Son, 2
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
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 Frank C. Fox, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, was a member of Battery B, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri on December 1. Sergeant Fox was marched to Camp 5, a prison camp on the bank of the Yalu River in Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died in early 1951. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Sergeant Fox 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, Belleville Newws Democrat (1953)