Ravalli County Montana

Wittman, Jeremiah T.
Army Sergeant

Jeremiah T. Wittman, age 26, from Darby, Montana, Ravalli county.

Parents: Cynthia Church and Robert Wittman
Spouse: Karen Wittman
Children: Miah, 3; Arieana 7

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Trapper Creek High, Darby (2004)
Military history: 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. Enlisted 2004.

Date of death: Saturday, February 13, 2010
Death details: Among three who died of wounds suffered while on foot patrol when suicide bomber on motorcyle attacked them in Zhari Province, Afghanistan.

Source: Department of Defense, Lakeland Ledger, Billings Gazette

Pratt, Dean Paul
Marines Corporal

Dean Paul Pratt, age 22, from Stevensville, Montana, Ravalli county.

Parents: Geri Morris and Danny Pratt
Spouse: None
Children: None

Service era: Iraq
Schools: Stevensville High (2000)
Military history: E Co, 2D Bn, 1St Mar, Rct-1, 1St Mar Div, Camp Pendleton, Ca

Date of death: Monday, August 2, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Al Anbar Province, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Hunter, John R.
Army 1st lieutenant

John R. Hunter, age 30, from Victor, Montana, Ravalli county.

Service era: Operation Just Cause Panama

Date of death: Wednesday, December 20, 1989
Death details: Killed in action in Panama

Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Arlington National Cemetery, Clarksville Leaf Chronicle (1989)

Rummel, James Douglas
Army Sergeant

James Douglas Rummel, age 19, from Florence, Montana, Ravalli county.

Parents: Walter G. Rummel

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Florence Carlton High (1968)

Date of death: Saturday, June 13, 1970
Death details: Killed in action when supporting artillery fire fell in his area.
Cemetery: Sunset Memorial Gardens in Missoula

Source: National Archives, Ravalli Republic (1970)

Simmons, George G.
Army Corporal

George G. Simmons, age 25, from Montana, Ravalli county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Thursday, November 19, 1942
Death details: On December 22, 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) accounted for Corporal George G. Simmons, missing from World War II. Corporal Simmons, who entered the U.S. Army from Montana, was a member of Battery H, 60th Coast Artillery Regiment. CPL Simmons was serving on Corregidor Island when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. He was one of the thousands of service members taken as prisoners of war when Allied forces surrendered on Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Following his capture, CPL Simmons was eventually taken to the Cabanatuan POW camp where he died of unknown causes on November 19, 1942. He was buried in Common Grave 717 in Cabanatuan Camp #3 Cemetery. Following the war, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed the remains buried at this Cabanatuan cemetery and relocated them to a temporary U.S. military cemetery near Manila. In 1947, the AGRS exhumed the remains at the Manila cemetery in an attempt to identify them, but many were unidentifiable and were reburied as “unknowns” in the permanent American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in the Philippines. In 2014, ten graves initially associated with Cabanatuan Common Grave 717 were brought to the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii for reexamination. Analysts used modern forensic techniques to individually identify CPL Simmons from among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Evans, Wayne M.
Army Private 1st class

Wayne M. Evans, age 21, from Hamilton, Montana, Ravalli county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, July 19, 1942
Death details: On March 30, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Wayne M. Evans, missing from World War II. Private First Class Evans entered the U.S. Army from Montana and was a member of the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment in the Philippines. He was captured by Japanese forces at Bataan following the American surrender in the Philippines on April 9, 1942. He was held at the Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp, where he died of dysentery on June 19, 1942. He was recorded as buried in Communal Grave 312 at the camp cemetery; however, recovery efforts at the camp immediately after the war failed to identify any remains as those of PFC Evans. In 2018, 22 unknown remains associated with Common Grave 312 were exhumed from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines for possible identification. Laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence allowed the DPAA to identify one set of these remains as those of PFC Evans.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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