Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Robin D. Rise, age 20, from Fremont, Nebraska, Dodge county.
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Thursday, January 27, 1983
Death details: Was a member of a maintenance crew working on a B-52G bomber when killed by an explosion in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Killed were: Robin D. Rise, Michael F. McDonald, Robert W. Gray, Anthony M. Salva
Source: Charlotte News (1983), Lead Daily Call (1983)
Ray William Church, age 26, from Dodge County Femont, Nebraska .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, August 6, 1945
Death details: Killed aboard USS Bullhead SS-332 when it was sunk by air attack near the Lombok Strait.
Source: On Eternal Patrol
Merle R. Jorgensen, age 37, from Dodge County North Bend, Nebraska .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, February 26, 1943
Death details: Died of wounds
Source: National Archives, Omaha World Herald (1943)
Earl F. Foote from Nebraska, Dodge county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, July 5, 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 and food and water supplied 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. Technician Fifth Grade Earl F. Foote entered the U.S. Army from Nebraska and served with the 263rd Quartermaster Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery on July 5, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. 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, Technician Fifth Grade Foote is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
William Frederick Eernisse, age 22, from North Bend, Nebraska, Dodge county.
Spouse: Dorothy Virginia Eernisse
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona
Source: National Archives, Lincoln Journal Star 2014)
Lloyd Paul Wiegand, age 19, from Scribner, Nebraska, Dodge county.
Parents: Paul Ludwig Wiegand
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On December 14, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Musician Second Class Lloyd Paul Wiegand, missing from World War II. Musician Second Class Wiegand joined the U.S. Navy from Nebraska. He was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when the ship came under attack by Japanese forces. The Oklahoma capsized as a result of the attack, and MUS2 Wiegand was killed in the incident. His remains were recovered from the ship following the attack. They could not be identified at the time, and were buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, the DPAA received authorization to exhume and reexamine unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma using advances in forensic technology. MUS2 Wiegand’s remains were disinterred and accessioned into the DPAA laboratory, where they were identified as part of this effort.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Omaha World Herald (2017)
Harold W. Borgelt, age 23, from Dodge County Schribner, Nebraska .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Hickam Field
Source: National Archives, Omaha World Herald (1943)