Christopher Edwin Esckelson, age 22, from Vassar, Michigan, Tuscola county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Co, 1St Bn, 24Th Mar, (Rct-5, I Mef Fwd), Saginaw, Mi
Date of death: Thursday, December 28, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Michael Fredrick May, age 21, from Vassar, Michigan, Tuscola county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, March 2, 1969
Death details: On March 2, 1969, eleven members of a U.S. Army reconnaissance team embarked on a combat mission in Cambodia. They departed the landing zone and approached their objective, but enemy forces ambushed them. One Soldier was wounded, and the team retreated to elevated ground in the vicinity of grid coordinates 48P XT 415 935, where they formed a defensive perimeter. As the enemy continued to close in, the team called in a friendly gunship to provide air support. As soon as the gunship departed, the enemy attacked again. An enemy rocket exploded directly over their position, wounding eight of the team members, two fatally. The team members then left the area, but were unable to evacuate the two dead Soldiers, whose bodies were still in their fighting positions when it was overrun by the enemy.
Specialist Five Michael Frederick May, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, served with the 5th Special Forces Group. He was one of the team members killed in the ambush, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Specialist Five May is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com