Brian Richard Hellerman, age 35, from Freeport, Minnesota, Stearns county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company C 2nd Bn 325Th Parachute Inf Reg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Date of death: Thursday, August 7, 2003
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Albert Vincent Wiswell, age 21, from Stearns County Freeport, Minnesota .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, September 3, 1950
Death details: On August 31, 1950, the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) engaged in a large-scale offensive against the U.S. defensive line in South Korea. The defensive position, known as the Pusan Perimeter, was intended to prevent NKPA forces from reaching the harbor in Pusan, South Korea, where American reinforcements would arrive. The late-August offensive allowed the NKPA to penetrate deep into allied territory. On September 3, members of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, organized near Yongsan, South Korea and counterattacked the NKPA forces. By September 5, with the help of air and artillery support, the U.S. counteroffensive succeeded in pushing the enemy back across the Naktong River. Private Albert Vincent Wiswell, who joined the U.S. Army from Minnesota, was a member of H Company of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was among soldiers who took part in the U.S. counterattack near Yongsan, and he was killed in action against North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) forces on September 3. The tactical situation prevented the recovery of Private Wiswell’s body, and searches of the Yongsan area following the end of hostilities were unsuccessful in locating his remains. Today, Private Wiswell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Star Tribune (1951)