Cascade County Montana

Pilgeram, Jonathan A.
Army Specialist

Jonathan A. Pilgeram, age 22, from Great Falls, Montana, Cascade county.

Parents: Rodney Pilgeram and Roberta Pilgeram
Spouse: None
Children: None

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Centervile High (2007)
Military history: 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Date of death: Thursday, February 17, 2011
Death details: Died in Konar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.

Source: Department of Defense, Great Falls Tribune, Military Times

Charpentier, Andrew Scott
Navy Aviation electronics technician airman

Andrew Scott Charpentier, age 21, from Great Falls, Montana, Cascade county. Their last known residence was in Great Falls.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: Navy Expeditionary Guard Battalion, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Date of death: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Death details: Died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, from a non-combat related illness.

Source: Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, Military Times

Frank, Michael Kevin
Army Specialist

Michael Kevin Frank, age 36, from Great Falls, Montana, Cascade county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc, 1St Battalion, 504Th Pir, 1 Bct, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Date of death: Thursday, May 10, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Coats, Vance T.
Army Private

Vance T. Coats, age 18, from Great Falls, Montana, Cascade county.

Parents: Vance V. Coats and Darla K. Stone
Spouse: None
Children: None

Service era: Operation Just Cause Panama
Military history: First Airboen 1-508, Company C at Fort Cobb, Panama

Date of death: Wednesday, December 20, 1989
Death details: Died from wounds in Panama
Cemetery: Highland, Great Falls, Montana

Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Arlington National Cemetery, family, findagrave.com., Great Falls Tribune (1989)

Kojetin, Roger John
Army Specialist 4

Roger John Kojetin, age 22, from Cascade County Great Falls, Montana .

Parents: Miloyd J. Kojetin

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, January 10, 1972
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam

Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1972)

Hensley, Mark Alan
Army Corporal

Mark Alan Hensley, age 20, from Flaxville, Montana, Cascade county.

Parents: Clarence W. Mehls

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, September 19, 1970
Death details: Killed in action

Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)

Ehnes, Richard Lee
Army Staff sergeant

Richard Lee Ehnes, age 23, from Great Falls, Montana, Cascade county.

Service era: Vietnam
Military history: Company A, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division

Date of death: Saturday, March 21, 1970
Death details: Richard was crew chief on a helicopter military mission when contact with the aircraft was lost.

Source: National Archives, Great Falls Tribune (1970)

Christensen, William Murrey Navy Lieutenant commander

William Murre Christensen, age 25, from Montana, Cascade county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, March 1, 1966

Death details:  On March 1, 1966, an F-4 Phantom II (bureau number 150443, call sign “Taproom 310”) carrying two crew members launched from the USS Ranger (CVA 61) for an armed reconnaissance mission along the North Vietnam coast. It was one of a flight of three aircraft, and the fighters encountered deteriorating weather. After reversing their flight course, visual contact was not established with “Taproom 310,” and the aircraft was not heard from again. The crew of the second aircraft in the flight noticed a surface to air missile (SAM) warning, but no SAMs were seen or reported as fired. Search and rescue teams found no sign of the missing “Taproom 310” or its crew.

Lieutenant Junior Grade William Murrey Christensen, who entered the U.S. Navy from Montana, served with Fighter Squadron 143 and was embarked aboard the Ranger. He was the radar intercept officer aboard this Phantom when it disappeared on March 1, 1966, and he went missing with the aircraft. He remains not accounted-for. While carried in the status of missing in action (MIA), the U.S. Navy promoted LTJG Christensen to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR). Today, LCDR Christensen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Wagner, Harry W.
Army Sergeant

Harry W. Wagner from Montana, Cascade county.

Service era: World War II
Military history: 3 Pursuit Squadron 24 Pursuit Group

Date of death: Monday, July 13, 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. Sergeant Harry W. Wagner joined the U.S. Army from Montana and served with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery and malaria on July 13, 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, Sergeant Wagner is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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