Asia Graham, age 19, from Cherryville, North Carolina.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade
Date of death: Thursday, December 31, 2020
Death details: Pronounced dead after her body was found in her barracks room at Fort Bliss, El Paso. Military concluded it was from a drug overdose
Source: New York Daily News, KFOX 14
James Cecil Starnes, age 31, from Gastonia, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Spouse: Jonnie
Children: James Vonzeli, 8; Paul, 5
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, November 29, 1970
Death details: Ten minutes after his departure from Phan Rang Air Base, the pilot started the descent to Cam Ranh Bay via a steep valley (3 km wide and 15 km long) at an altitude of 2,700 feet via heading 30°. Shortly later, ATC instructed the crew to change heading to 100° when contact was lost. The airplane struck trees with its both wings, stalled and crashed in flames in a dense wooded area located few km from Cam Ranh Bay Airport. Rescuers arrived on the scene five days later and found two men still alive while 42 other occupants were killed. At the time of the accident, the visibility was nil due to low clouds. James was on his way home after one year in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Gastonia Gazette (1970)
Max Edward Carroll, age 21, from Gastonia, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, October 25, 1970
Cemetery: Gaston Memorial Park
Source: National Archives, Gastonia Gazette (1970)
Michael Allan Graham, age 20, from Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Parents: Allen D. Graham
Spouse: Teresa
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, October 7, 1970
Source: National Archives, Gastonia Gazette
Donald Eugene Auten, age 25, from Cramerton, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Parents: Boyd Auten
Spouse: Married
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Cramerton High
Date of death: Thursday, July 30, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Cemetery: Gaston Memorial
Source: National Archives, Charlotte News (1970)
Larry Kane Morrison from Grover, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, May 24, 1970
Source: National Archives
Larry Austin Foster, age 20, from Gastonia, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Spouse: Judy K. Foster
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, May 8, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Southeast Asia
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Bunyan Durant Jr. Price from Belmont, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, May 2, 1970
Death details: On August 21, 2015, the Department of Defense announced that it identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Bunyan Durant Price Jr., missing from the Vietnam War.
Staff Sergeant Price, who joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina, served with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. On May 2, 1970, he was a passenger aboard a UH-1H Iroquois (serial number unknown) that carried eight in total and flying to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam. At some point, the helicopter was diverted due to bad weather. It flew into Cambodian air space where it was hit by enemy ground fire. The pilot made an emergency landing in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The four crew members and four passengers survived the crash landing, but three, including SSG Price, died in a firefight with enemy soldiers that occurred after the landing. One U.S. soldier escaped, but the rest were taken as prisoners of war. The bodies of the three men killed in the firefight were not recovered until February 2012, when a Joint U.S./Cambodian team located the crash site and recovered human remains, and forensic analysis identified SSG Price among the remains recovered from the site.
Staff Sergeant Price is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Bunyan Durant Jr. Price, age 20, from Belmont, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, May 2, 1970
Death details: On August 21, 2015, the Department of Defense announced that it identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Bunyan Durant Price Jr., missing from the Vietnam War. Staff Sergeant Price, who joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina, served with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. On May 2, 1970, he was a passenger aboard a UH-1H Iroquois (serial number unknown) that carried eight in total and flying to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam. At some point, the helicopter was diverted due to bad weather. It flew into Cambodian air space where it was hit by enemy ground fire. The pilot made an emergency landing in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The four crew members and four passengers survived the crash landing, but three, including SSG Price, died in a firefight with enemy soldiers that occurred after the landing. One U.S. soldier escaped, but the rest were taken as prisoners of war. The bodies of the three men killed in the firefight were not recovered until February 2012, when a Joint U.S./Cambodian team located the crash site and recovered human remains, and forensic analysis identified SSG Price among the remains recovered from the site. Staff Sergeant Price is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Robert Wilson Floyd, age 49, from Gastonia, North Carolina, Gaston county.
Spouse: Viola V. Floyd
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, January 29, 1970
Source: National Archives, Raleigh News and Observer (1970)