Orville Curtis Rogers, Jr. was born in 1945 in Bakersfield, California. Curtis was a graduate of Dallas’ Woodrow Wilson High School and Baylor University. He was assigned to 1st Marine Air Wing, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, nicknamed the Thunder Chickens. 1LT Rogers had been in Vietnam since June 5, 1970.
Continue reading 1LT Curtis Rogers, Jr. and CPL Fernando VillasanaCategory: memorial day
Dr. Dwight Meyer Deter
An Associated Press news article was published May 30, 1943 in the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal stating that the wife of Dr. Dwight M. Deter of Austin, Texas had been notified by the War department that Lt. Col. Deter was a prisoner of the Japanese. Dr. and Mrs. Deter had been stationed at Corregidor and Lt. Col. Deter was later attached to Headquarters, Visayan-Mindanao Guerrilla Force, where Lt. Col. Deter served as a surgeon for the United States Army. Mrs. Deter had returned to the United States in May, 1941 and had last heard from her husband on April 6, 1942.
Continue reading Dr. Dwight Meyer DeterLuther Dean Stanford
Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Luther Dean Stanford served in the US Navy from September, 1943 through July, 1944. His Tours of Duty: San Diego, CA, Norman, OK, Norfolk, VA, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was Killed in Action in a seaplane accident in Great Exuma, Bahama Islands, on July 1, 1944. He was posthumously awarded the following Medals: American Campaign Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal.
Presley Bazelle Land
As we approach Memorial Day, we honor Presley Land of Alvord, Texas. United States Army Sergeant Presley Bazelle Land was killed on the island of Okinawa on June 17, 1945. He was the oldest son of Jessie Clarence and Sarah Isabelle Magers Land and was born in Alvord, Wise County, Texas on October 22, 1916. Jessie was a farmer and Isabelle was a housewife. Presley graduated from Alvord High School around 1933 and married the former Vera Katherine Richards on September 4, 1937. Presley had attended college for one year and was working as a clerk in Fort Worth for Convair, an aircraft manufacturer, at the time he enlisted in the service on May 24, 1943.
Jack Lummus, Medal of Honor Recipient
Jack Lummus was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II. According to a May, 1945 newspaper report based upon an interview with a fellow Marine, 1st Lt. Lummus was killed while leading an infantry and tank attack on the island on March 8, 1945.
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