Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Johnathon F. Davis, age 20, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Date of death: Thursday, March 29, 2012
Death details: Died in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Jeremy P. Faulkner, age 23, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Date of death: Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Death details: Died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire in Konar Province, Afghanistan.
Source: Department of Defense.
Christopher B. Rodgers, age 20, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Parents: Chris Rodgers and Jane Rodgers
Spouse: None
Children: None
Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Spalding High (2008)
Military history: 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Enlisted July 2008. Purple Heart.
Date of death: Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Death details: Died while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Cemetery: Westwood Gardens
Source: Department of Defense, Haisten McCullough Funeral Home
Robert Lee Jr Hollar, age 35, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Troop E, 108Th Cavalry, 48Th Infantry Brigade, (Tf Baghdad), Griffin, Ga
Date of death: Thursday, September 1, 2005
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Gary Anderson, age 21, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. James Chapman
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, November 29, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Wilborn Wesley Brock, age 19, from Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, December 3, 1950
Death details: On the evening of November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive attack against the U.S. and United Nations (UN) troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in north-east North Korea. The resulting seventeen-day conflict became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members of the U.S. Army’s 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments were defending the area north of Sinhung-ni, on the east side of the reservoir. The defenders were overwhelmed by the numerically superior CCF, and on December 1 were forced to withdraw to friendly lines at Hagaru-ri. Many men were lost or captured during the withdraw, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3. Once at Hagaru-ri, the survivors of the withdrawal manned a section of the perimeter near East Hill, a strong defensive position overlooking the town. On the night of December 3, the Chinese attacked the Hagaru-ri perimeter and overwhelmed the defenders there. Many Americans were killed or went missing during these actions. Private First Class Wilborn Wesley Brock entered the U.S. Army from Georgia and served with M Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was killed in action at Hagaru-ri on December 3, 1950. Specific details regarding his loss are unknown, and due to battlefield conditions, he was not recovered at the time he fell. His remains have not been identified among those later returned to U.S. custody, and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Private First Class Brock is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Marion B. Smoot from Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, October 7, 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 Marion B. Smoot joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Georgia and served with the 454th 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 malnutrition, malaria, and dysentery on October 7, 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 Smoot is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Hiram Dennis Harris, age 21, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Parents: James Render Harris
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
James M. Farley, age 29, from Griffin, Georgia, Spalding county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Wednesday, October 16, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Oak Hill, Griffin
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com, findagrave.com