Jason Lee Deibler, age 20, from Coeburn, Virginia, Wise county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company A 1St Battalion 6Th Infantry Regiment, Apo Ae
Date of death: Sunday, May 4, 2003
Death details: Accident, Camp Wolf, Kuwait
Cemetery: Hampton National
Source: Department of Defense, findagrave.com; Library of Virginia, Richmond
Rodney Harold Stone, age 26, from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, Wise county.
Parents: Henry G. Stone
Spouse: Jane Draper Stone
Children: Todd Andrew Stone
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, May 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam in the crash of his airplane.
Cemetery: Powell Valley Memorial
Source: National Archives, Knoxville News Sentinel (1970)
James Wilfred Clement, age 25, from Coeburn, Virginia, Wise county.
Parents: H. W. Clement
Spouse: Dorothy
Children: Five children
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: University of Michigan, East Tennessee State University, graduated from Colorado State University.
Military history: 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron at Da Nang
Date of death: Wednesday, March 11, 1970
Death details: James was on an observation flight when his plane failed to return following bad weather. The wreckage was found on a mountain top near Da Nang a short time later.
Source: National Archives, Kingsport Times (1970)
Michael Wayne Hopkins, age 20, from Wise, Virginia, Wise county.
Parents: Lonnie L. Hopkins Jr.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: J.J. Kelly High
Date of death: Tuesday, February 24, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Johnson City Press (1970)
Roger Smith Bryant from Exeter, Virginia, Wise county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 18, 1970
Source: National Archives
Willard Hoyt Edwards from Virginia, Wise 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 Willard Hoyt Edwards, who entered the U.S. Army from Virginia, was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Private First Class Edwards was killed by enemy fire on December 2, during the withdrawal to Hagaru-ri. A fellow U.S. soldier who witnessed this loss reported he buried PFC Edwards’ remains along the roadside near the place where he fell. However, his remains have not been recovered and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Edwards is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
James F. Johnston from Virginia, Wise 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.
Sergeant James Fred Johnston entered the U.S. Army from Virginia and was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing at some point during this withdrawal from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Sergeant Johnston is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Nathaniel Gilbert, age 23, from Virginia, Wise county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 29, 1950
Death details: On November 29, 1950, men from Company G of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment, MP Company and Tank Company, 1st Marine Division, Company B and elements of Company D of the 31st Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company of the X Corps, and Royal Marines from Number 41 Independent Commando Battalion were sent north from Koto-ri to open the main supply route to Hagaru-ri and resupply and reinforce Allied troops that had been surrounded near the Chosin Reservoir. The group, known as Task Force Drysdale, set out with tanks and other vehicles in the lead and rear, and initially only met light resistance from Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). As attacks increased in ferocity, the group became fragmented as the CCF managed to establish road blocks that further split the task force. Soon, the CCF blew a bridge and halted the convoy altogether. The Royal Marines and most of Company G were north of the bridge at this time and were able to continue to Hagaru-ri. Near the south end of the convoy, a destroyed truck blocked the road. The tanks and troops south of the destroyed truck fought as long as possible before ultimately returning to Koto-ri on November 30. The men between the blown bridge and the destroyed truck, however, were trapped, and subjected to several mortar barrages before CCF moved into hand-to-hand combat range. Fighting raged there until the morning of November 30, when the survivors were forced to surrender. Over 300 troops were wounded, captured, or died during the action. Corporal Nathan Gilbert entered the U.S. Army from Virginia and served in Headquarters Company, X Corps. He went missing during Task Force Drysdale’s drive from Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. No one saw him fall, and there is no evidence suggesting he was ever alive in enemy hands. Attempts following the war to recover or identify his remains were unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Gilbert is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Evans E. Overbey from Virginia, Wise county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, November 19, 1942
Death details: On June 1, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private Evans E. Overbey, missing from World War II. Private Overbey, who entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Virginia, served with the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy), located at Clark Field on the island of Luzon when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine islands in 1942. With its aircraft destroyed, the unit joined forces with American and Filipino infantry units fighting in the Battle of Bataan. Following the Allied surrender to the Japanese on April 9, the surviving members of Private Overbey’s squadron were captured and began the Bataan Death March. Private Overbey was taken to Camp Cabanatuan, where he died of pellagra on November 19, 1942, and was buried in a camp cemetery. Following the war, American Graves Registration Service personnel exhumed those buried at Cabanatuan cemeteries and relocated the remains to a temporary U.S. military cemetery near Manila for identification. In 1947, these remains were exhumed in an attempt to identify them; however, Private Overbey’s remains could not be identified and were reburied as “unknowns” in the Manila American Cemetery. In 2014, the U.S. Army exhumed ten graves associated with Cabanatuan Common Grave 717 where Private Overbey was believed to have been buried following his death. These remains were brought to the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii where U.S. analysts used modern forensic techniques to eventually identified Private Overbey from among the collective remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency