Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
David L. Espinoza, age 20, from Rio Bravo, Texas, Webb county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Lyndon B. Johnson High
Military history: 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine expeditionary force, Camp Pendleton, California
Date of death: Thursday, August 26, 2021
Death details: Died as the result of an enemy attack while supporting non-combatant evacuation operations in Kabul, Afghanistan
Cemetery: City of Laredo
Source: Department of Defense, NBC
Steven L. Talamantez, age 34, from Laredo, Texas, Webb county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hook, Texas
Date of death: Sunday, July 10, 2011
Death details: Died in Al Amarah, Iraq of injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Roberto Jr Arizola, age 31, from Laredo, Texas, Webb county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Co, 297Th Mil Intel Bn, (525 Mi Bde), Xviii Abn Corps, Fort Gordon, Ga
Date of death: Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Death details: Killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
William Val Reed, age 19, from Laredo, Texas, Webb county.
Parents: Earl A. Reed
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, June 8, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Associated Press (1970)
Cresenciano Jr. Garcia, age 19, from Webb County Texas.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, February 28, 1951
Death details: On April 25, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Cresenciano Garcia Jr., missing from the Korean War. Sergeant Garcia entered the U.S. Army from Texas and was a member of Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On December 1, 1950, he was reported missing in action after a battle against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in the vicinity of Sinjang, North Korea. Based on later reports from returning American POWs, SGT Garcia was captured and taken to POW Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died on or around February 28, 1951. However, his remains were not immediately recovered following the war. During Operation GLORY, the postwar exchange of war dead, 495 sets of remains from burial grounds around POW Camp 5 were returned to United Nations Command. All but 38 were identified. Those remains were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In August 2019, as part of a planned exhumation of Project GLORY burials originating from Camp 5, one set of remains was disinterred and sent to a DPAA laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of SGT Garcia. Sergeant Garcia 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, Austin American (1954)
Jose R. Gutierrez from Texas, Webb county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 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 troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in northeast North Korea, resulting in a seventeen-day conflict that became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members 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. Chinese roadblocks from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri along with the constant enemy fire from the surrounding high ground, made the withdrawal route extremely dangerous. Eventually, the column was broken into separate segments, which the CCF attacked individually. Many men were lost or captured during the moving battle, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3.
Private First Class Jose Roberto Gutierrez, who joined the U.S. Army from Texas, served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on December 2, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal south from the Chosin Reservoir to Hamhung. Due to the chaos on the battlefield, PFC Gutierrez’s body was not immediately recovered, and U.S. military forces never again controlled the area where he fell. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Gutierrez is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cememtery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Alfredo T. Trevino from Texas, Webb county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 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 troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in northeast North Korea, resulting in a seventeen-day conflict that became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members 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. Chinese roadblocks from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri along with the constant enemy fire from the surrounding high ground, made the withdrawal route extremely dangerous. Eventually, the column was broken into separate segments, which the CCF attacked individually. Many men were lost or captured during the moving battle, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3.
Corporal Alfredo Tiofilo Trevino entered the U.S. Army from Texas and was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing in action during his unit’s withdrawal from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri, though specific details surrounding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Trevino is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Francisco Garcia from Laredo, Texas, Webb county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Sunday, August 25, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com