Barun Rai, age 24, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Montgomery county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany.
Date of death: Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Death details: Died in Logar Province, Afghanistan of injuries sustained during a vehicle rollover.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, findagrave
Robert Hernandez, age 47, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Montgomery county.
Children: Micah and Xariel
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Headquarters 80Th Division, It, Detachment 9 (Tf Mnstc-I), Richmond, Virginia
Date of death: Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Taqaddum, Iraq. Killed by an explosive device.
Cemetery: Memorialized by the naming of a new training facility for him in August 2012 at Camp Park in Dublin.
Source: Department of Defense, Contra Costa Times, Military Times
Thomas Karl Doerflinger, age 20, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Montgomery county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Company, 1St Bn, 24Th Infantry, 25Th Infantry Div, Fort Lewis, Wa 98433
Date of death: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Mosul, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Robert Michael Gaffigan, age 19, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Prince George’s county.
Parents: Joseph P. Gaffigan
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Springbrook High (1967), Univeristy of Maryland
Date of death: Monday, October 26, 1970
Death details: Shot in South Vietnam by friendly forces when he was mistaken for the enemy. He died the following day.
Cemetery: Hostile, died of wounds
Source: National Archives, Baltimore Evening Sun (1970)
Thomas Edward Jr. Kessing, age 19, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Prince George’s county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, August 25, 1970
Death details: South Vietnam
Cemetery: Hostile, died of wounds
Source: National Archives, Akron Beacon Journal (1970)
Allen Ralph Stroud, age 20, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Prince George’s county.
Parents: Ralph Stroud
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division
Date of death: Wednesday, July 8, 1970
Death details: Ambused while leading a patrol in enemy territory in South Vietnam
Cemetery: Hostile, killed
Source: National Archives, Belton Star Herald (1970)
John Arthur McGinn, age 20, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Prince George’s county.
Parents: John A. McGinn
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Good Counsel High graduate
Date of death: Sunday, June 28, 1970
Death details: Died in South Vietnam in an explosion of unknown cause
Source: National Archives, Baltimore Evening Sun (1970)
Stephen Jonathan Geist from Silver Spring, Maryland, Prince George’s county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: September 26, 1967
Death details: On September 26, 1967, an O-1D Bird Dog (tail number 55-4692, call sign “Aloft 13”) carrying a pilot and passenger took off from Minh Thanh, South Vietnam, on a visual reconnaissance mission of the surrounding area. The final radio transmission from the aircraft reported its position as west of Minh Thanh, and it failed to return to base. Search and rescue efforts could not locate the missing aircraft or the two men aboard.
Specialist 4 Stephen Jonathan Geist entered the U.S. Army from Maryland and was a member of Detachment A-332, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group. He was a passenger aboard this O-1 when it went down, and he was lost with the aircraft. After the incident, the U.S. Army promoted Specialist 4 Geist to the rank of Staff Sergeant. Today, Staff Sergeant Geist is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency