Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Kyle Charles Gilbert, age 20, from Brattleboro, Vermont, Windham county.
Service era: Iraq – Operation Iraqi Freedom
Military history: Company C 2nd Bn 325th Infantry Regiment(Parachute), Fort Bragg, Nc 28310
Date of death: Wednesday, August 6, 2003
Death details: Hostile in Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Richard L. Lemnah, age 37, from Franklin County Saint Albans, Vermont .
Parents: Clarence and Etta Lemnah
Spouse: Marlys (married 15 years)
Service era: Beirut bombings
Schools: Bellows Free Academy (1964)
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terroist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Cemetery: Holy Cross in Saint Albans, Vermont
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Burlington Free Press (1983)
Richard Albert Green, age 22, from Bennington County Manchester, Vermont .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, December 3, 1971
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives
Alfred Joseph Tuttle, age 27, from Thetford, Vermont, Orange county.
Children: Penny S., Alfred A., Timothy S., Daryl J.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, September 11, 1971
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam
Cemetery: Union Village
Source: National Archives, West Lebanon Valley News (1971)
Stephen Douglas Carr, age 26, from Barre, Vermont, Washington county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, August 26, 1970
Death details: Died in South Vietnam in combat as a helicopter pilot
Cemetery: Hope
Source: National Archives, Barre Times Argus (1970)
Richard George Desautels, age 21, from Addison County Shoreham, Vermont .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, April 29, 1953
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant Richard George Desautels, who joined the U.S. Army from Vermont, served with A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit was withdrawing from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. He was marched with a large group of other prisoners to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley, and from there to Camp 5 at Pyoktong. Several of his companions, who survived their captivity, remembered that he had a leg wound near his knee, and that he managed to learn a few rudimentary words of Chinese and could communicate with his captors. The Chinese allowed him to help drive trucks of food supplies to various POW camps. He appears in Chinese records, which state that he became very sick while at Mukden (now Shenyang) Manchuria and died there on 29 April 1953. His remains have not been recovered. Sergeant Desautels is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In a March 2003 meeting, Chinese officials told the U.S. that after he “became mentally ill.”
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Valley News (2008)
Maurice Patrick Gardner, age 18, from Franklin County Saint Albans, Vermont .
Parents: Irene and Alvarez Gardner
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, January 28, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Corporal Maurice Patrick Gardner, who joined the U.S. Army from Vermont, served with Battery B, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri southward to Sunchon. He was marched with a large group of prisoners to Hofong Camp, where he died of malnutrition and pneumonia on January 28, 1951. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Corporal Gardner 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, Saint Albans Daily Messenger (1951)
Ronald Rupert Fleming, age 19, from Chittenden County Burlington, Vermont .
Parents: Josephine V. Fleming
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, January 26, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Private First Class Ronald Rupert Fleming, who joined the U.S. Army from Vermont, was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the enemy forces during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri on November 30. Private First Class Fleming was marched to a holding village near the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley in North Korea, where he died of starvation, exposure, and pneumonia on January 26, 1951. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the end of the war. Today, Private First Class Fleming 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, Rutland Daily Herald (1951)
Myron Alonzo Brophy, age 22, from Rutland County Rutland, Vermont .
Parents: Parents died in 1927 and 1933
Service era: World War II
Schools: Rutland High (1938)
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Cemetery: Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Rutland Daily Herald (1943)
Brainerd Wells Andrews, age 31, from Franklin County Saint Albans, Vermont .
Parents: Homer G. Andrews and Eva E. Andrews
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, Burlington Free Press (1966)