Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Andrew R. Tobin, age 24, from Jacksonville, Illinois, Morgan county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division
Date of death: Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Death details: Died in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forced attacked his unit using small arms fire.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Matthew W. Weikert, age 29, from Jacksonville, Illinois, Morgan county.
Parents: Richard Weikert and Susan B. Weikert
Children: Jayse Schaecher Weikert, 10
Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Jacksonville High (2000)
Military history: 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Date of death: Saturday, July 17, 2010
Death details: Died in Paktika Province, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
Source: Department of Defense, State Journal Register, Journal Courier, Military Times
Robert Ray Lynn, age 32, from Jacksonville, Illinois, Morgan county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: December 21, 1972
Death details:On April 18, 1989, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Robert Ray Lynn, missing from the Vietnam War.
Major Lynn entered the U.S. Air Force from Illinois and was a member of the 325th Bombardment Squadron. On December 21, 1972, he was the electronics warfare officer aboard a B-52G Stratofortress (tail number 58-0198, call sign “Olive 01”) that took off from Guam on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. During the flight, “Olive 01” was hit by an enemy surface-to-air missile that caused it to crash and explode near Hanoi in Ha Tay Province; Maj Lynn did not survive the incident. Attempts to reach the crash site were prevented by enemy control of the area, and his remains were not recovered at the time. In 1988, the Vietnamese government repatriated human remains that U.S. analysts identified as those of Maj Lynn.
Source: National Archives, Associated Press, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Steven Ray Lowe, age 21, from Jacksonville, Illinois, Morgan county.
Parents: Donald G. and Elouise Lowe
Spouse: None
Children: None
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, May 31, 1970
Death details: Died at an Army hospital in Camp Zama, Japan, where he was treated for severe burns. He suffered the injury in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam when a candle fell into a gas can in Lowe’s bunker.
Source: National Archives, Jacksonville Journal Courier (1970)