Joseph Michael Kane, age 35, from Darby, Pennsylvania, Delaware county.
Service era: Iraq – Operation Iraqi Freedom
Military history: Company E, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor, 2 Bct, Fort Hood, Tx
Date of death: Saturday, October 14, 2006
Death details: Hostile, died in Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Thomas Joseph MacMullen, age 30, from Darby, Pennsylvania, Delaware county.
Parents: Diane
Children: Debra, 11; Lauren, 4
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Sunday, May 17, 1987
Death details: Died aboard the USS Stark. While in the Persian Gulf on May 17, 1987, she was struck by two Iraqi Exocet missiles, killing 37 sailors and wounding 21. Brought under control, the frigate sailed to Bahrain and was successfully repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi. Following repairs and subsequent tours in the Atlantic and Middle East, Stark was decommissioned on May 7, 1999, and was scrapped in 2006.
Source: Associated Press, National Museum of the U.S. Navy
Herman Eugene Rixstine, age 24, from Darby, Pennsylvania, Delaware county.
Parents: Mary W. Rixstine
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: From November 20 through 23, 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy conducted a large-scale amphibious assault on the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa as part of Operation Galvanic, the Allied capture of the Gilbert Islands. Located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, Tarawa was a crucial stepping stone in the planned U.S. offensive across the central Pacific toward Japan. The Japanese garrison on Tarawa’s main island of Betio was well-entrenched with hundreds of bunkers and gun positions behind formidable beach obstacles. The first wave of Marines approaching the shore encountered lower-than-expected tides, forcing them to leave their landing craft on the reef and wade the hundreds of yards to the beach under intense enemy fire. The heaviest number of U.S. casualties were suffered during this phase of the landing. Eventually, rising tides allowed U.S. warships to maneuver closer to shore and support the troops with effective naval gunfire. More Marines landed on the second day, launching attacks inland from the beaches and seizing the Japanese airfield on the island. However, the enemy launched vicious counterattacks and two more days of intense fighting were needed to secure Betio. The last enemy strongpoints were taken on the morning of November 23. The fighting on Betio cost the Marines nearly 3,000 casualties but enabled U.S. forces to press further across the Pacific and yielded valuable tactical lessons that reduced U.S. losses in future amphibious landings. Second Lieutenant Herman Eugene Rixstine entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Pennsylvania and served in Company M, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa. Second Lieutenant Rixstine was buried on Betio in Cemetery #11, but his remains were not identified among those disinterred from the island after the war. Today, Second Lieutenant Rixstine is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Zachery Taylor National
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Thomas J. Flannery from Darby, Pennsylvania, Delaware county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Saturday, September 7, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Holy Cross in Yeadon, Pennsylvania
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com