James A. Jr. Smith, age 22, from Somerville, Tennessee, Fayette county.
Service era: Gulf War
Date of death: Tuesday, October 30, 1990
Death details: Died with nine other sailors aboard the USS Iwo Jima when the ship’s 850-degree steam pipe erupted.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Department of Defense
Dwight Amos Bremmer, age 23, from Oakland, Tennessee, Fayette county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, December 14, 1971
Death details: On December 14, 1971, a U-21A aircraft (tail number: 66-18041; call sign: Longtrip 041) with two crew members and four passengers took off from Phu Bai, Republic of (South) Vietnam, on an administrative mission to Da Nang. During the flight, the aircraft experienced an in-flight emergency, and the pilot radioed that he had lost an engine and had a fire. Within minutes of this transmission, all radio and radar contact with “Longtrip 041” was lost. They immediately launched search and rescue aircraft, but bad weather soon forced to return to base. Searches continued for the next three days but failed to locate any of the crew or its passengers.
Specialist Four (SP4) Dwight Amos Bremmer entered the U.S. Army from Tennessee and served in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was a passenger aboard “Longtrip 041” when it went missing off the coast of northeast of Da Nang, Republic of (South) Vietnam and his remains have not been recovered. Today, SP4 Bremmer is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Joe Nathaniel Watson, age 21, from Collierville, Tennessee, Fayette county.
Parents: A.D. Watson
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, February 14, 1970
Death details: Drowned in the Vien Bien River after the boat he was pursuing the enemy in overturned.
Source: National Archives, Memphis Commercial Appeal (1970)