Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Jonathan P. Schmidt, age 28, from Petersburg, Virginia, Prince George county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 192nd Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, 20th Support Command (CBRNE), Fort Bragg North Carolina.
Date of death: Saturday, September 1, 2012
Death details: Died in Batur Village, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked hit unit with small arms fire. Staff Sgt. Jeremie S. Border was also killed.
Source: Department of Defense
Thomas Carlyle Morris Zeugner, age 36, from Petersburg, Virginia, Prince George county.
Service era: Gulf War
Date of death: Wednesday, February 27, 1991
Death details: Killed in accident in Saudi Arabia
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Gulf War Chronicles; Library of Virginia, Richmond
Michael F. Ritz, age 28, from Petersburg, Virginia, Petersburg county.
Parents: Robert Ritz
Service era: Grenada
Date of death: Wednesday, October 26, 1983
Cemetery: Fort Bragg Post, North Carolina.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Department of Veterans Affairs, UPI, Assocaited Press (1983)
Louis R Sheffey, age 33, from Virginia, Petersburg, City of county.
Date of death: Friday, November 4, 1977
Death details: Died at Lompoc District Hospital
Source: Virginia Military Dead Database from the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia., Lompoc Record (1977)
Christopher George Morbitzer, age 24, from Petersburg, Virginia, Petersburg county.
Parents: Kurt M. Morbitzer
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, August 19, 1971
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1971)
George Edward Roye, age 45, from Petersburg, Virginia, Petersburg county.
Spouse: Blanche W. Roye
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, November 10, 1970
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Willie Jr. Hooper, age 21, from Petersburg, Virginia, Petersburg county.
Parents: Willie Hooper Sr.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Peabody High (1968)
Date of death: Wednesday, September 2, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile death
Source: National Archives, Richmond Times Dispatch (1970)
Richard Conway Hicks from Dinwiddie County Petersburg, Virginia .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant First Class Richard Conway Hicks joined the U.S. Army from Virginia and was a member of Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On December 1, 1950, he was captured by enemy forces near Somindong, North Korea, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Sunchon. Returning prisoners of war reported that SFC Hicks died while in enemy custody in January of 1951, as a result of wounds he suffered in previous fighting. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant First Class Hicks 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, Portsmouth Star (1951)