Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Stephen Clarence Hattamer, age 43, from Gwinn, Michigan, Marquette county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 652Nd Engineer Company, Ellsworth, Wi 54011
Date of death: Thursday, December 25, 2003
Death details: Hostile; Baquba, Iraq
Cemetery: Holy Cross, Spokane, Washington
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Robert Allen Derrick, age 20, from Marquette, Michigan, Marquette county.
Parents: Mary Derrick
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, November 3, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Terry Alfred Carter, age 19, from Marquette, Michigan, Marquette county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, January 28, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives
Melvin Jalmer Hill from Michigan, Marquette county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, November 18, 1950
Death details: On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Private First Class Melvin Jalmer Hill, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, served with Battery A, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Task Force Smith, and he was captured by enemy forces on July 5 and forced to march to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of exhaustion, exposure and malnutrition at the camp at Hanjang-ni on November 18. Although he was buried nearby, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Hill is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Peter J. Paris, age 24, from Michigan, Marquette county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, November 29, 1944
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Waino Hautala from Michigan, Marquette county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, September 23, 1944
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Private Waino Hautala, who entered the U.S. Army from Michigan, was a member of the 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. On September 23, 1944, he was on patrol ahead of U.S. lines near Lammersdorf, Germany, when he was killed by enemy fire. His body could not be recovered at the time of loss due to the conditions of the battlefield. Subsequent searches of the battle area by U.S. military investigators failed to locate his remains. Today, Private Hautala is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency