Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Tad T. Hervas, age 48, from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Anoka county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 34th Infantry Regiment, Rosemont, Minnesota.
Date of death: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Death details: Died at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq of injuries sustained from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Source: Department of Defense, Minneapolist Star Tribune
William Joseph Beardsley, age 25, from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Anoka county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc, 260Th Quartermaster Petroleum Support Battalion, Hunter Aaf, Georgia
Date of death: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Diwaniyah, Iraq. Died of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detaoned near his vehicle.
Source: Department of Defense, Associated Press, Facebook
Thomas G. Lamb, age 20, from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Anoka county.
Parents: Beatrice Emerson and Loren Lamb
Service era: Beirut bombings
Schools: Coon Rapids High
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terrorist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Cemetery: Fort Snelling National
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, findagrave.com
Stephen Joseph Kaster, age 23, from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Anoka county.
Parents: Donald J. Kaster
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Edina High (1965), Saint John’s Univeristy in Collegeville, Minnesota (1969)
Date of death: Monday, November 2, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Minneapolis Star Tibune (1970), Associated Press (1970)
Marvin Lyle Whitehead, age 18, from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Anoka county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, July 30, 1950
Death details: On July 30, 1950, the 24th Infantry Division’s undermanned and ill-equipped 19th Infantry Regiment, which had been rushed to Korea from garrison duty in Japan, established defensive lines around the South Korean city of Chinju. The soldiers of the 19th Infantry faced the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA), which was moving inexorably south down the Korean peninsula. The unit lacked heavy artillery and anti-tank weaponry, and the Americans were ultimately unable to stop the NKPA and were forced to withdraw further south to prevent being surrounded. Corporal Marvin Lyle Whitehead joined the U.S. Army from Minnesota and was a member of M Company, 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action against the NKPA near Chinju on July 30, 1950. CPL Whitehead was never reported to be a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted-for following the incident. Today, Corporal Whitehead is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency