Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
James Leon Jr Wiley, age 46, from North Bend, Oregon, Coos county.
Parents: Jim Wiley Sr.
Spouse: Theresa Wiley
Children: Three daughters
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 27Th Infantry, Syracuse, Ny
Date of death: Thursday, September 18, 2008
Death details: Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Adrian Marcos Elizalde, age 30, from North Bend, Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company C, 2D Battalion, 1St Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Washington
Date of death: Thursday, August 23, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Legacy
Steven Anthony Stacy, age 23, from Coos Bay, Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: L Co, 3D Bn, 1St Mar, 1St Mar Div, Camp Pendleton, Ca
Date of death: Thursday, July 5, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Al Taqqadum, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense
Bryan Pahl Bertrand, age 23, from Coos Bay, Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Vmgr-352, Mag-11, 3D Maw, Mcas Miramar, Ca
Date of death: Wednesday, January 9, 2002
Death details: Killed in a refueling tanker crash in Shamsi, Pakistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Timothy John Brown, age 19, from Myrtle Point, Oregon, Coos county.
Parents: William S. Brown
Spouse: None
Children: None
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Myrtle Point High (1969)
Date of death: Saturday, May 30, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Cambodia
Cemetery: Norway Cemetery
Source: National Archives, Coos Bay World (1970)
David John Ellefson, age 19, from North Bend, Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, April 25, 1970
Death details: Body recovered
Cemetery: Sunset Memorial Park in Coos Bay
Source: National Archives, findagrave.com
James Ray Muth, age 20, from Roseburg, Oregon, Coos county.
Parents: Verna L. Muth
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, March 7, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Clifford Grant Brownson, age 32, from Coos County Oregon.
Parents: Mae Brownson
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
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 Clifford Grant Brownson, who joined the U.S. Army from Oregon, served with the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 30, 1950, during the Division’s withdrawal to Sunchon. None of the survivors of the battle saw him fall, and his body was not recovered after his death. Evidence indicates that he was never held as a prisoner of war, and he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. after the war. Today, Sergeant Brownson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, News Review (1951), The World (1954)
James David Murphy from Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Monday, November 20, 1950
Death details:
On November 20, 1950, the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 7th Cavalry Regiment and a small force from Company B of the 8th Engineers Combat Battalion were sent on a mission to investigate the positions of Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) that had consolidated on the north bank of the Ch’ongch’on River on the border between China and North Korea. The patrol met a larger enemy force near the village of Pyongdong, and a heavy firefight ensued. U.S. forces were eventually compelled to fall back to friendly lines.
Sergeant James David Murphy joined the U.S. Army from Oregon and was a member of Company B, 8th Engineers Combat Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the November 20 engagement near Pyongdong. Sergeant Murphy was held locally before being marched to a holding point at the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley in North Korea, where he died of pneumonia and malnutrition on January 12, 1951. U.S. search teams have never been permitted to investigate the site, and none of the remains returned to U.S. custody after the conflict’s ceasefire could be associated with SGT Murphy. Today, Sergeant Murphy is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Frederick C. Sell, age 24, from Oregon, Coos county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, August 12, 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. Private First Class Frederick C. Sell joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Oregon and served with the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group in the Pacific during World War II. He was captured following the Allied surrender and interned in the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of diphtheria and cardiac failure on August 12, 1942. 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, Private First Class Sell is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency