Stephen Roosevelt Maddies, age 41, from Elizabethton, Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhd, 473D Quartermaster Supply And Service Battalion, Columbia, Tn
Date of death: Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Tetrick Funeral Home
Jefferson Donald Davis, age 39, from Watauga, Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company D 2D Battalion 5Th Sfg Fort Campbell, Ky 42223
Date of death: Wednesday, December 5, 2001
Death details: Hostile; Khaneh Gerdab, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
James Harry Markland, age 19, from Elizabethon, Tennessee, Carter county.
Parents: James S. Markland
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Elizabeth High (1969)
Date of death: Wednesday, December 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam while a door gunner on a helicopter that was ambushed.
Source: National Archives, Johnson City Press, Associated Press (1970)
Sam Eugene Stout, age 44, from Elizabethton, Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, August 23, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile death
Source: National Archives, Knoxville News Sentinel (1970)
Louis McKeehan from Elizabethton, Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, December 18, 1944
Death details: He was aboard the destroyer USS Hull as it operated as part of the Fast Carrier Strike Force in the Philippine Sea. On December 17, 1944, the Hull was participating in refueling operations when the ships of its fueling group were engulfed by Typhoon Cobra. The Hull lost its ability to steer amid the enormous waves and began taking on water. The Hull eventually took on too much water to stay afloat and rolled and sank shortly before noon, on December 18. Sixty-two crew members were rescued, but a little more than two-hundred crew members were lost in the sinking.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Mark P. Wilson from Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1944
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Private First Class Mark P. Wilson, who joined the U.S. Army in Georgia, served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on November 8, 1944, during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. A member of PFC Wilson’s unit later reported that he was struck by a German artillery shell in the vicinity of Kommerscheidt and Schmidt, Germany. Battle conditions prevented the immediate recovery of his body, and later searches for his remains were unsuccessful. Today, Private First Class Wilson is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
William Vane Campbell, age 20, from Elizabethton, Tennessee, Carter county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: United States Navy; Purple Heart
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Oklahoma. Accounted for May 9, 2018
Cemetery: Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Ray Milton Guess, age 23, from Carter County Elizabethton, Tennessee .
Parents: Raymond R. Guess
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 Ray Milton Guess, who joined the U.S. Army from Tennessee, served with D Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, during his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. Returning POWs who encountered him while in enemy captivity reported that Corporal Guess died of malnutrition and pneumonia in late January 1951. His remains have not been recovered. Corporal Guess is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Elizabethton Star (1953)
James R. Geisler from Carter County Hampton, Tennessee .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: Killed in action
Source: Soldiers of the Great War