Terry Louis Deer from Wewoka, Oklahoma, Seminole county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, October 5, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile death
Source: National Archives, Daily Oklahoman (1970)
Don Wayne Love, age 21, from Konawa, Oklahoma, Seminole county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, August 18, 1970
Source: National Archives
Veney Ewell Thompson, age 23, from Wewoka, Oklahoma, Seminole county.
Parents: Johnny E. Thompson
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, March 12, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Tulsa World (1970)
Dwight M. Holmes, age 27, from Seminole County Oklahoma.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1945
Death details: On June 24, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Dwight M. Holmes, missing from World War II. Holmes entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from California and served with the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy), in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured by enemy forces during the Japanese invasion of the islands in April 1942 and was interned in the Philippines until Dec. 13, 1944, when Japanese forces in the Philippines began the transfer of 1,621 Allied prisoners of war to Japan aboard transport ships whose harsh conditions and extreme overcrowding led survivors to refer to them as “Hell Ships.” On Dec. 14, unaware of the POWs onboard, Allied aircraft attacked the first ship, the Oryoku Maru, in Subic Bay in the Philippines. Survivors of the bombing were put aboard two other ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru, to continue on to Japan. During the journey, while anchored in Takao Harbor, Formosa, present-day Taiwan, the Enoura Maru was attacked by Allied aircraft. The Japanese government reported that Holmes died aboard the Enoura Maru on Jan. 9, 1945. Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel. In May 1946, an American Graves Registration Command Search and Recovery Team exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao, Formosa, recovering 311 bodies. However, the remains could not be identified at the time and were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu as Unknowns. Between October 2022 and July 2023, DPAA disinterred Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific linked to the Enoura Maru. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for further study and scientific analysis. The laboratory analysis and the total circumstantial evidence available identified one set of the remains as those of Holmes.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Ted W. Jr. Hampton, age 19, from Seminole County Seminole, Oklahoma .
Service era: World War II
Schools: Okemah High graduate
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Okemah News Leader (1943)
James Edward Luna from Seminole County Seminole, Oklahoma .
Parents: J. W. Luna
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Seminole Producer (1941)
John Franklin Riley from Seminole County Bowlegs, Oklahoma .
Parents: Legia Riley
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On February 5, 1951, Allied forces launched an offensive against North Korean and Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) north of Wonju, Korea. Republic of Korea units, the 2nd Infantry Division’s 38th Infantry Regiment, and supporting artillery units, including the 15th and 503rd Field Artillery Battalions, along with the 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, initially met light resistance on the drive north. However, on February 11, the CCF launched an aggressive counteroffensive that caused the Allies to withdraw to the south. A series of roadblocks established by the CCF along the road to the south forced the Allies to fight their way back toward friendly lines, and soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division units split up in attempts to make their way south on foot. Sergeant John Franklin Riley, who joined the U.S. Army from Oklahoma, served with Battery D, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on February 13, 1951, at a CFC roadblock near Hoengsong, South Korea, and was marched toward Suan Bean Camp, North Korea. He died on an unspecified date in late April before reaching the Suan Bean Camp but information about his burial is not available. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Sergeant Riley 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, Seminole Producer (1954)