Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Richard Bullock from Butte, Montana, Silver Bow county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: Strike Fighter Squadron 113 based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California
Date of death: Friday, June 3, 2022
Death details: Died when his F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed during a routine training flight over the desert near Trona, California
Source: Washington Times (2022), Associated Press, KBZK
Raymond L. Jr. Robertson, age 20, from Butte, Montana, Silver Bow county.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Butte High (1968)
Military history: 219th Montanan
Date of death: Friday, May 29, 1970
Death details: Killed in Southeast Asia
Source: National Archives, Montana Standard (1970)
Harold Edward Perkins, age 26, from Butte, Montana, Silver Bow county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, November 21, 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 Harold Edward Perkins entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Montana and served in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 21, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa. Private First Class Perkins was buried on Betio in Main Marine Cemetery, Cemetery #33. After the war, his remains were not identified among those disinterred from the island. Private First Class Perkins is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Bosie Arnold Adams, age 20, from Park County Butte, Montana .
Parents: Mrs. Elmer M. Francisco
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. Corporal Bosie Arnold Adams, who joined the U.S. Army from Montana, was a member of the Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the breakout from Kunu-ri. He was eventually marched to Camp 5, a prison camp on the banks of the Yalu River in North Korea, where he died of pneumonia and dysentery in February or March 1951. He was buried near the camp, but his remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Corporal Adams 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, Associated Press (1954)