Justin Andrew Saint, age 22, from Albertville, Alabama, Marshall county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company C, 18Th Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, Nc
Date of death: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Death details: Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Waymon Slaten, age 18, from Marshall County Arab, Alabama .
Parents: Johnny W. Slaten
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, September 1, 1950
Death details: On August 14, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Waymon Slaten, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Slaten entered the U.S. Army from Alabama and was a member of B Company of the 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On August 31, members of Cpl Slaten’s company were stationed on the eastern shore of the Naktong River, along the Pusan Perimeter, a defensive formation around the town of Pusan, South Korea. That night, North Korean People’s Army forces initiated a large-scale offensive across the Naktong and infiltrated the positions of the 1st Battalion. The battalion’s B Company was driven from its positions on both Hill 209 and Hill 311 west of Yongsan. Cpl Slaten was lost in the fighting and was subsequently declared missing in action. In 1953 the U.S. Army issued him a presumptive finding of death. On October 22, 1950, American Graves Registration Service had recovered a set of remains from the ground surface at the base of Hill 209, approximately 11 miles west of Yongsan, where Cpl Slaten was reported missing. However, those remains could not be identified at the time, and they were buried as unknown in the United Nations Military Cemetery, Tanggok, South Korea. In 1954, this set of remains was reexamined, but still could not be identified, and the remains were ultimately interred as an Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In May 2021, as part of phase 3 of DPAA’s Korean War Disinterment Project, this Unknown was as disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of Cpl Slaten. Corporal Slaten is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Advertiser Gleam (1954)
Wilmer Dennis, age 28, from Marshall County Grant, Alabama .
Parents: Anna Dennis
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, October 15, 1942
Death details: On October 15, 1942, he was in a U.S. convoy of six ships that was towing barges loaded with urgently needed supplies toward Guadalcanal. The American forces on that island were in dire need of resupply. When the convoy was spotted by enemy aircraft, all but two ships withdrew from the area. The two ships that pressed on were the USS Meredith (DD-434,) a destroyer, and the USS Vireo (AM-54,) a lightly armed towing vessel. Upon receiving word that Japanese surface warships were operating in the area, both ships were forced to turn back from their mission. Because of its age and slow speed, Vireo was abandoned, and the crew taken aboard the Meredith. Within minutes, the Meredith was attacked by a large force of enemy aircraft. The destroyer sustained multiple bomb and torpedo hits and quickly sank. The survivors spent three days at sea before being rescued. The majority of the crews of both ships was killed in the incident.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Ralph Curtis Battles, age 25, from Boaz, Alabama.
Parents: Leonard Evan Battles
Service era: World War II
Military history: Purple Heart
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Died aboard the USS Oklahoma. Accounted for Feb. 12. 2021
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Millard Charles Bishop, age 20, from Albertville, Alabama, Marshall county.
Parents: John Wesley Bishop
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Cemetery: Honolulu Memorial
Source: American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Albertville Herald (1942)
Irland Jr. Shores, age 19, from Grant, Alabama, Marshall county.
Parents: Irland Shores
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona
Source: National Archives, Montgomery Advertiser (2000), Huntsville Times (1942)
Newman Fletcher, age 26, from Guntersville, Alabama, Marshall county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Wednesday, July 31, 1918
Death details: Died of wounds
Cemetery: Forrest in Gadsden, Alabama
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com
Odis Gauntt from Marshall County Guntersville, Alabama .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Source: Soldiers of the Great War