Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Janelle Holder, age 39, from Benson, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Parents: Ian Kent Munter and Michelle Glover
Spouse: William Holder
Children: Davis and Waylon
Service era: Post war on terror
Date of death: Saturday, November 26, 2022
Death details: Suicide
Source: WWLP, Daily Record (2022), Skinner & Smith Funeral Home
Jeffrey C. Sherer, age 29, from Four Oaks, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Bronze Star and Purple Heart
Date of death: Thursday, June 2, 2011
Death details: Died in Zabul Province, Afghanistan of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: Department of Defense, Facebook, findagrave.com, Military Times
William Clint Moore, age 27, from Benson, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Troop B, 5Th Squadron, 73D Cavalry, 3 Bct, (25 Id), Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Date of death: Monday, April 23, 2007
Death details: Hostile; As Sadah Village, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
David Shaun Parr, age 22, from Benson, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: C Co, Blt 1St Bn, 2D Mar, (22D Meu), 2D Mar Div, Camp Lejeune, Nc
Date of death: Monday, February 6, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Hit, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense
Jeriad Paul Jacobs, age 19, from Clayton, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: E Co, 2D Bn, 6Th Mar, Rct-8, 2Nd Mar Div, Camp Lejeune, Nc
Date of death: Saturday, January 7, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Cemetery: Robeson County
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, WTVD
Dennis William Omelia, age 19, from Smithfield, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 3, 1971
Death details: On January 3, 1971, a U-6A Beaver (tail number 52-2584) took off carrying a pilot and six passengers on an administrative support flight from Qui Nhon to Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam. The flight was over mountainous terrain and flown in inclement weather. Radar contact was lost with the aircraft fourteen miles southeast of Phu Cat, South Vietnam, in the vicinity of (GC) BR 960 250, and the U-6A never reached Ban Me Thuot. Attempts to locate the aircraft, pilot, or any of the passengers following the disappearance were unsuccessful. Warrant Officer 1 Dennis William O’Melia entered the U.S. Army from North Carolina and was a member of the 61st Aviation Company, 223rd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was a passenger aboard this U-6A when it was lost on January 3, 1971, and he remains unaccounted-for. After the incident, the U.S. Army promoted WO1 O’Melia to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO3). Today, Chief Warrant Officer 3 O’Melia is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Eddie Ray Eatmon, age 34, from Micro, North Carolina, Johnston county.
Spouse: Alma L. Eatmon
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, May 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in Southeast Asia
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Hulon L. Raper from North Carolina, Johnston county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, June 24, 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, with food and water 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. Private Hulon L. Raper entered the U.S. Army from North Carolina and served with the 454th Ordnance Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of malaria on June 24, 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, Private Raper is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency