Justin Paul Hartford, age 21, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 699Th Maintenance Company, Combat Support Battalion, Fort Irwin, California
Date of death: Friday, May 8, 2009
Death details: Joint Base Balad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Miitary Times
Carl Roger Raymond, age 20, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Parents: Roger and Barbara M. Raymond
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Southside High (1968)
Date of death: Tuesday, September 8, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Elmira Star Gazette (1970)
Lee Thomas Baiz, age 20, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, July 29, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives
Dwight Andrew Maslinski, age 24, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Parents: Anthony Maslinski Sr. and Helen Patch
Spouse: Louise
Children: Foster children
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Elmira Free Academy
Military history: Serving his second tour in Vietnam.
Date of death: Friday, April 10, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam when a booby-trapped ammunition truck exploded.
Source: National Archives, Elmira Star Gazette (1970)
Richard Elliott, age 22, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Spouse: Engaged to Paula Roby
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Corning Community College, Southside High
Military history: 635th Military Intelligence, Americal Division
Date of death: Thursday, April 2, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Elmira Star Gazette (1970)
Nathaniel Thomas, age 21, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
Parents: Herbert Thomas
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Elmira Free Academy
Date of death: Saturday, January 24, 1970
Death details: Thomas was aboard a helicopter above South Vietnam when a fragment of a land mine hit the aircraft causing it to crash.
Source: National Archives, Star Gazette (1970)
John Anthony Vergallito, age 33, from Chemung County Elmira, New York .
Parents: Frank
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, March 20, 1966
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam; died from mortar wounds.
Cemetery: Saint Peter and Paul’s
Source: National Archives, Star Gazette (1966)
John R. Cowan, age 21, from Chemung County Elmira, New York .
Parents: Roy S. Cowan
Spouse: Brenda Cowan
Children: John R. Cowan Jr.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, March 11, 1966
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Cemetery: Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Source: National Archives, Star Gazette (1966)
Richard Frank Barnes, age 21, from Chemung County Elmira, New York .
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Southside High (1961)
Date of death: Friday, February 18, 1966
Death details: Died in Vietnam from multiple enemy gunshot wounds.
Source: National Archives, Star Gazette (1966)
Raymond Paul Wilson, age 18, from Elmira, New York, Chemung county.
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. Private Raymond Paul Wilson joined the U.S. Marine Corps from New York and was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which took part in the Battle of Tarawa. On November 20, 1943, he was killed in action on the atoll and was buried in Cemetery #33; however, after the war his remains were not located, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private Wilson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency