Michael Angelo Mora, age 19, from Arroyo Grande, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: I Troop, 3Rd Squadron/2Nd Armored Cavalry Regt (1Cav) Fort Polk, La 71459
Date of death: Friday, May 14, 2004
Death details: An Najaf, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Lawrence Swarbrick, age 25, from Pismo Beach, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Spouse: Jean K. Swarbrick
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, August 13, 1970
Death details: Body recovered
Source: National Archives, San Bernardino County Sun (1970)
Joe Don Ramey, age 21, from Arroyo, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Parents: Emmett A. Ramey
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, May 21, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Los Angeles Times (1970)
John Joseph Burns, age 24, from San Luis Obispo, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Spouse: Anna G. Burns
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, March 16, 1962
Death details: Among 93 soldiers aboard a transport plane on a “secret mission” to Vietnam. Wreaths Across America in 2021: “Very little is known about what happened to the plane and its passengers, and due to the circumstance surrounding this mission, the names of those lost have not yet been added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.”
Cemetery: A memorial honoring the lives lost was dedicated in 2021 in Columbia Falls, Maine
Source: Atlanta Counstitution (1962), MauiNow (2021), UPI (1962)
George Bernard Murray, age 20, from Oceano, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On June 6, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Private First Class George Bernard Murray, missing from World War II. Private First Class George Bernard Murray joined the U.S. Marine Corps from California and served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, the first day of the Battle of Tarawa. Private First Class Murray was reportedly buried on Betio Island (now Kiribati); however, his remains could not be individually identified among the remains recovered from Betio after the war. In 2010, Kiribati police turned over possible human remains to an official U.S. military recovery team conducting a mission on the island, and forensic tests conducted in the United States were able to identify the remains as PFC Murray.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Royal Lawrence Waltz, age 20, from Cambria, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Parents: Maude E. Waltz
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On May 15, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Royal Lawrence Waltz, missing from World War II. Private First Class Waltz entered the U.S. Marine Corps from California and served in Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the assault on the Japanese held Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll. PFC Waltz’s body was buried in the Division Cemetery on Betio, but his remains were not identified during disinterment efforts following the war. In 2009, the non-profit organization History Flight Inc. located a burial site on Betio and recovered human remains there. This discovery prompted the reexamination of 94 sets of unknown remains that had been previously recovered from Betio and moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. One set of unknown remains was associated with another set of remains recovered by History Flight, and DPAA analysts used modern forensic tools and identified these remains as those of PFC Waltz.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Max M. Rouse, age 20, from California, San Luis Obispo county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, July 1, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Technician Fifth Grade Max M. Rouse joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from California and served with the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured following the Allied surrender, forced on the Bataan Death March, and ultimately interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of dysentery, malaria, and beriberi on July 1, 1942. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Technician Fifth Grade Rouse is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Edgar J. Williams, age 27, from California, San Luis Obispo county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 31 Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Thursday, June 11, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Edgar J. Williams entered the U.S. Army from California and served with the 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of malaria on June 11, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Williams is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Ellis P. Ferrini from San Luis Obispo, California, San Luis Obispo county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Old Mission, San Luis Obispo
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com, findagrave.com