Emerine, Jerry Owen
Army Corporal
Jerry Owen Emerine, age 19, from Benicia, California, Solano county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, July 4, 1970
Death details: Body recovered
Source: National Archives
Emerine, Jerry Owen
Gear, Gary Wayne
Army Sergeant
Gary Wayne Gear, age 22, from Fairfield, California, Solano county.
Parents: Billy E. Gear and Lorraine M. Long
Spouse: JoAnn Gear
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 101st Airborne Division
Date of death: Wednesday, May 20, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Sacramento Bee (1970)
Borges, Michael
Army Sergeant
Michael Borges, age 19, from Fairfield, California, Solano county.
Parents: Edward E. Borges
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Armijo High (1968)
Date of death: Thursday, April 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam by a booby trap
Source: National Archives, Sacramento Bee (1970)
Case, Thurle Eugene Jr.
Navy Petty officer 3rd class
Thurle Eugene Jr. Case, age 22, from Vacaville, California, Solano county.
Parents: Thurle E. Case Sr.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, March 16, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam when a Navy EC121 spy plane with 31 crew aboard crashed into a hanger and started on fire.
Source: National Archives, UPI (1970), Associated Press (1970), San Francisco Examiner (1970)
Thamy, Peter
Army Master sergeant
Peter Thamy, age 49, from Vallejo, California, Solano county.
Spouse: Felcidad M. Thamy
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)
Tiller, Horace Nelson
Air Force Major sergeant
Horace Nelson Tiller from Vallejo, California, Solano county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 19, 1952
Death details: On November 18, 1952, a B-29 Superfortress (tail number 44-86392) with fourteen crew members departed Yokota Air Base, Japan, in a group of six medium bombers accompanied by fighter support aircraft. The briefed mission was a night bombing operation targeting the Sonchon supply depot in North Korea. After dropping its payload, the B-29 was illuminated by flares, cueing ground searchlights. The Superfortress was then lit up by multiple enemy searchlights, which highlighted it for nearby enemy MiG-15 fighters and during the ensuing attack that followed, both of the B-29’s inboard engines were disabled and a fire broke out in the right wing. The aircraft commander immediately turned the aircraft south toward the Bay of Korea’s island of Cho (Cho-do), which was under friendly control at the time. As the B-29 approached Cho-do, the flight engineer reported that the fire was quickly approaching the aircraft’s fuel tanks. Fearing an explosion, the aircraft commander ordered the flight crew to exit the aircraft. After the entire crew bailed out, the Superfortress crashed into the water just north of Cho-do. Of the fourteen on board, two survived. Rescue personnel later located the remains of two others, but ten crew members remain unaccounted-for.
Master Sergeant Horace Nelson Tiller, who entered the U.S. Air Force from California, served in the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Wing. He was the flight engineer aboard this B-29 when it was shot down, and he was lost in the incident. No returning POWs mentioned having contact with MSgt Tiller, nor was he seen at any known holding point, interrogation center, hospital, or permanent POW camp. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Master Sergeant Tiller is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Hill, Lyle Glen
Navy Reserves Watertender 1st class
Lyle Glen Hill from Vallejo, California, Solano county.
Spouse: Mrs. Lucille Hill
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, December 18, 1944
Death details: He was aboard the destroyer USS Hull as it operated as part of the Fast Carrier Strike Force in the Philippine Sea. On December 17, 1944, the Hull was participating in refueling operations when the ships of its fueling group were engulfed by Typhoon Cobra. The Hull lost its ability to steer amid the enormous waves and began taking on water. The Hull eventually took on too much water to stay afloat and rolled and sank shortly before noon, on December 18. Sixty-two crew members were rescued, but a little more than two-hundred crew members were lost in the sinking.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Pleshko, William
Army 1st lieutenant
William Pleshko from California, Solano county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, August 8, 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. First Lieutenant William Pleshko joined the U.S. Army from California and served with the 12th Ordnance Company 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 August 8, 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, First Lieutenant Pleshko is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Lange, Richard Charles
Navy Seaman 1st class
Richard Charles Lange from Vallejo, California, Solano county.
Parents: Charles Bruno Lange
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
Fleming, John V.
Lieutenant
John V. Fleming, age 26, from Vallejo, California, Solano county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Friday, October 18, 1918
Death details: Died of Wounds
Cemetery: Saint Vincents in Vallejo
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com