Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Noe Hernandez, age 26, from Weslaco, Texas.
Date of death: Saturday, June 17, 2017
Death details: reported missing after the USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippines-based merchant vessel at 2:20 a.m. June 17, 2017 while most of the 300 sailors aboard were sleeping.
Source: Navy, USNI News
Tomas Garces, age 19, from Weslaco, Texas, Hidalgo county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 1836Th Transportation Company (13Cc), Fort Bliss, Tx 79906-6816
Date of death: Monday, September 6, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Juan Jr Calderon, age 26, from Weslaco, Texas, Hidalgo county.
Parents: Juan Calderon Sr.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: L Co, 3D Bn, 1St Mar, Rct-1, 1St Mar Div, Camp Pendleton, Ca
Date of death: Monday, August 2, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Al Anbar Province, Iraq; Died in a military hospital after conducting security and stability operations.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Robert Bradford Hays, age 22, from Weslaco, Texas, Hidalgo county.
Parents: Charles Hays
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, July 21, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Corpus Christi Caller-Times (1970)
James Frederick Sooter, age 20, from Hidalgo County Weslaco, Texas .
Parents: J. M. Sooter
Service era: World War II
Schools: Weslaco High graduate
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, The Monitor (1942)
Jesus Roberto Cantu from Hidalgo County Weslaco, Texas .
Parents: Robert C. Cantu
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
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. Master Sergeant Jesus Roberto Cantu, who joined the U.S. Army from Texas, was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the withdrawal from the Kunu-ri area on November 30. He died of unknown causes in January of 1951 while held at the Mining Camp in North Korea. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Master Sergeant Cantu 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, Fort Worth Star Telegram (1954)