Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
William Randolph Watkins III, age 37, from Danville, Virginia, Danville (City) county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 333D Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Afb, North Carolina
Date of death: Monday, April 7, 2003
Death details: Hostile; , Iraq
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: Department of Defense; Library of Virginia, Richmond, findagrave.com, Military Times
Christopher D Turner, age 21, from Danville, City of, Virginia.
Service era: Post cold war
Date of death: Friday, August 9, 1996
Death details: Accident, Sabana Seca Naval Stn west of San Juan Puerto Rico
Source: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Woonsocket Call (2017), Stars and Stripes, findagrave.com
Rodger Hyler Mitchell, age 19, from Danville, Virginia, Danville county.
Parents: Edna Hyler Mitchell and Rayford Mitchell
Spouse: None
Children: None
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, April 14, 1971
Death details: Died in Vietnam from injuries receiv ed while with a demolition team destroying ammunition at an abandoned air strip.
Source: National Archives, Danville Register (1971)
Haylen Foster Glenn, age 21, from Danville, Virginia, Danville county.
Spouse: Alice B. Glenn
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, October 30, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile death
Source: National Archives, The Bee (1970)
Joseph F. Broome, age 22, from Danville, Virginia, Pittsylvania county.
Parents: Delmas H. Broome
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: George Washington High (1961)
Date of death: Friday, March 16, 1962
Death details: Among 93 soldiers aboard a transport plane on a “secret mission” to Vietnam. Wreaths Across America in 2021: “Very little is known about what happened to the plane and its passengers, and due to the circumstance surrounding this mission, the names of those lost have not yet been added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.”
Cemetery: A memorial honoring the lives lost was dedicated in 2021 in Columbia Falls, Maine
Source: Atlanta Counstitution (1962), MauiNow (2021), UPI (1962)
George R. Ellison, age 25, from Pittsylvania County Danville, Virginia .
Spouse: Ruth R. Ellison
Children: George Jr., 4
Service era: World War II
Schools: Vanderbilt University
Date of death: Sunday, March 5, 1944
Death details: On July 9, 2001, the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Second Lieutenant George R. Ellison, missing from World War II. Second Lieutenant Ellison entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Virginia and served in the 319th Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group (Heavy). On March 5, 1944, he was the bombardier aboard a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-41135) nicknamed “Cold Steel” that took off from Nadzab, New Guinea, for a bombing mission over Hansa Bay, New Guinea. The bomber was not heard from after takeoff. Cold Steel crashed for unknown reasons, killing 2LT Ellison and the other nine crew members aboard. The aircraft remained missing until a group of young explorers found its wreckage in 1979 near the village of Tauta, high in the Finisterre Mountains of Papua New Guinea. The site was rediscovered and reported to CILHI in 1989. Later that year a CILHI team investigated the wreckage and recovered human remains. CILHI scientists used laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify 2LT Ellison.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Danville Register and Bee (1946)
Waldon France from Danville, Virginia, Pittsylvania county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Thursday, October 10, 1918
Death details: Died of disease, Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio
Cemetery: Green Hill, Danville
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com