Terry Adam Bryson, age 20, from Greensboro, North Carolina, Guilford county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, February 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Durham Sun (1970)
Billy Wayne Flynn from Greensboro, North Carolina, Guilford county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, January 23, 1970
Source: National Archives
Jerry Smith Leonard, age 29, from Greensboro, North Carolina, Guilford county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, November 1, 1968
Death details: Among 23 American sailors killed aboard the LST Westchester County when it was ripped open by an enemy mine as she swung at anchor in the My Tho River near Saigon.
Cemetery: Forest Lawn, Greensboro
Source: National Archives, virtualwall.org
William Howard Kennedy from Kinston, North Carolina, Guilford county.
Parents: Mollie Hill
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, December 18, 1944
Death details: He was aboard the destroyer USS Hull as it operated as part of the Fast Carrier Strike Force in the Philippine Sea. On December 17, 1944, the Hull was participating in refueling operations when the ships of its fueling group were engulfed by Typhoon Cobra. The Hull lost its ability to steer amid the enormous waves and began taking on water. The Hull eventually took on too much water to stay afloat and rolled and sank shortly before noon, on December 18. Sixty-two crew members were rescued, but a little more than two-hundred crew members were lost in the sinking.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Phillip Isom Doss, age 22, from Durham, North Carolina, Guilford county.
Parents: Charlie Peoples Bass
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 First Class Phillip Ison Doss, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from North Carolina, served with Company B, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action fighting Japanese forces on Tarawa on November 20 and buried on Betio Island. After the war, his remains could not be located. Today, Private First Class Doss is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Richard L. Myers from North Carolina, Guilford county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, October 10, 1943
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Zachary Taylor National
Source: National Archives, grave marker
David D. Crouse from North Carolina, Guilford county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, November 22, 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. First Sergeant David D. Crouse joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina and was served with the 808th Military Police Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of beriberi on November 22, 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, First Sergeant Crouse is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
James K. Gashaw from Guilford County Fayetteville, North Carolina .
Parents: Jake L. Willard
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Pearl Harbor
Source: National Archives