Cornelius Oregon

Gallinger-Ling, Riley
Navy Hospitalman

Riley Gallinger-Ling, age 19, from Cornelius, Oregon, Washington county.

Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Date of death: Thursday, August 11, 2011
Death details: Died while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Marjah District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Leisten, Ken Willy
Army Specialist

Ken Willy Leisten, age 20, from Cornelius, Oregon, Washington county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Company, 2D Battalion, 162D Infantry (1Cd) , Corvallis, Oregon

Date of death: Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Taji, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Goeden, Gene William
Navy Lieutenant (junior grade)

Gene William Goeden from Cornelius, Oregon, Washington county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Friday, March 17, 1967
Death details: Body not recovered. Lieutenant Junior Grade Gene William Goeden entered the U.S. Navy from Oregon and was a member of Attack Squadron 115, embarked aboard the USS Hancock (CVA 19). He was the pilot of a single-seat A-1H Skyraider (bureau number 135225) that took off from the Hancock as wingman in a flight of two on a combat mission over enemy targets in North Vietnam. The Skyraider was searching for a downed aircraft over the Gulf of Tonkin when radar and radio contact were lost with LTJG Goeden. The flight leader’s plane crashed at about the same time, and after his rescue, the flight leader reported that he had felt a severe impact against his aircraft right before his crash, and suspected that a midair collision occurred between his and LTJG Goeden’s plane. LSTJG Goeden remains unaccounted-for. Today, Lieutenant Junior Grade Goeden is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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