Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Zachary Blaise Tomczak, age 24, from Huron, South Dakota, Beadle county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company B, 2D Battalion, 325Th Infantry, Fort Bragg, Nc
Date of death: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Daniel Dean Bartels, age 22, from Huron, South Dakota, Beadle county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc, 4Th Squadron, 14Th Cavalry, (2Mef), Fort Wainwright, Ak
Date of death: Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Death details: Merez Aid Station, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Roger Lee Porter, age 21, from Huron, South Dakota, Beadle county.
Parents: Lester and Jane Porter
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Huron High (1967)
Date of death: Saturday, June 20, 1970
Death details: Died of wounds received at Cam Rahn Bay, South Vietnam
Cemetery: Graceland Cemetery, Mitchell
Source: National Archives, Mitchell Daily Republic (1970)
Robert Donald Jenks, age 20, from Huron, South Dakota, Beadle county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, November 23, 1943
Death details: On February 4, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Robert Donald Jenks, missing from World War II. Private First Class Jenks entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Minnesota and served in Company D, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He fought on Betio Island during the U.S. invasion of the Tarawa Atoll where he was killed in action on November 23, 1943, and was buried in Cemetery 33 on the island. Later in the war, Naval Construction Battalions reorganized the cemeteries including Cemetery 33 on Betio, complicating disinterment efforts after the end of hostilities. PFC Jenks was not located or identified after the war. In 2009, the non-profit organization History Flight, Inc. located Cemetery 33 on Betio and in 2019, discovered a burial trench near Cemetery 33 where they recovered remains that they turned over to DPAA. DPAA combined circumstantial evidence and laboratory analyses and identified PFC Jenks from among the remains found in this trench.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Leaman Robert Dill, age 25, from Huron, South Dakota, Beadle county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941. Killed aboard the USS Oklahoma. Accounted for January 4, 2021
Cemetery: Memorialized in Black Hills National
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency