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Sidney
P. Arnold joined the army one year prior to U.S.
entry into WWII. He served in North Africa where his
bravery earned him a citation and a battlefield commission. Arnold
fell in action against a German tank in Italy
on June
30, 1944.
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Mark Albert Babson, Jr. died in Tuyen
Duc
Province
(II Corps) South
Vietnam on October 16, 1969
during a reconnaissance mission in an OV-1C Bronco for the 225th Aviation
Company (Surveillance) [the Phantomhawks].
 
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Kenneth
M. Ballard died during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM from wounds received during an
accidental weapons discharge near Najaf, Iraq,
on May
30, 2004.
He commanded an M-1 Abrams tank and belonged to Company C, 2nd
Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored
Division.
 
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Roy
D. Bass joined the U.S. Army Air Force in November 1939. He was wounded at Guadalcanal,
later contracted rheumatic fever while hospitalized, and died.
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Robert
R. Boyd died near Swan Loc, Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam
on May
17, 1967 from a small shrapnel fragment to
the chest. During the final stages
evacuating a fire support base, the enemy began lobbing mortar rounds into
the dismantled camp. The confusion
from the prop wash and noise of the large Chinhook
helicopters created confusion that allowed several rounds to hit before the
remaining soldiers realized they were under attack. Many of the defensive positions used for
shelter had been filled, leaving the troops in the open for fifteen minutes
before close air support suppressed the enemy fire. Boyd, “A” Battery Commander, 3/319th
Artillery, 173rd Airborne Brigade, was the lone KIA, although many were
seriously wounded. He had earlier
received the Bronze Star for Valor for directing fire while exposed to
hostile fire for five hours. According
to a friend, Bob was on his second tour of duty in Vietnam. When asked as to why he wanted to return to
Vietnam
for another tour, he replied that his experience might save the lives of
others.
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Alfred J. Brandon joined the U.S.
Navy in 1944 as a Pharmacist Mate. He
contracted aplastic anemia during his service and
died in 1945.
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Harold Hughes Brantley was drum major
of the Raider Band and joined the Navy Reserve Air Corps in 1942. As a turret gunner in the South Pacific,
Brantley’s plane exploded in midair while bombing an ammunition dump on Makin in November 1943.
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Bob
Brown died in northern France
during World War I.
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Houston
Brown died in a rail transport accident near his camp on January 1, 1918.
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Richard
A. Buerstetta
KIA 2006 Al Anbar
Province, Iraq
by IED
India
Company, 3/24 Marines
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William Burkett, Jr., despite his
thin frame, was an exceptional football player for MTSU (then STC) and joined
the U.S. Army in 1943. A German sniper killed “Little Wille” as he attempted lead his squad through a hedgerow
near Brest, France on August 28, 1944.
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George
W. Burkheart died while leading a recon patrol of the
101st Airborne on September
3, 1965.
He had previously been awarded the Silver Star.
 
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Danny Butterbaugh
(Class of 1943) transferred to STC in 1941 from Lebanon’s Cumberland College.
He graduated in 1943 and joined the U.S. Navy. Butterbaugh’s
plane was shot down over Europe on September 15,
1944.
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Francis O. Cornwell (Class of
1940) was the navigator of a B-17 dispatched to locate a Japanese carrier
task force raiding Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.
When previous attempts to find the enemy failed, desperate commanders
assigned Cornwell’s outdated aircraft the mission. They discovered the enemy carriers off Attu and made a bombing run. Japanese anti-aircraft fire destroyed the
plane, killing Cornwell and fellow college alum, Edgar
Rogers.
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Gerald
W. Davidson died in South Vietnam on June 29, 1964 when hostile fire hit the
UH-1B helicopter he was piloting and crashed, killing all four crew members
aboard. Davidson flew a “smoke ship”
(a helicopter designed to lay down a smoke screen over a landing zone) for
the 114th Assault Helicopter Company.
He had previously been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and
seven Air Medals.
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Lucian E. Durham was killed in North Africa in early 1943.
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Eddie Edwards died during World
War II.
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Fowler
Elrod was killed near Chateau-Thiery, France on July 20, 1918.
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Robert Fry died during
1942 training maneuvers when his plane crashed in Louisiana.
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Joe
R. Fulghum died in Bien
Hoa
Province
(III Corps) South
Vietnam on February 2, 1967
while performing a rescue and recovery mission in a UH-1D for the 283rd
Medical Detachment. On a volunteer
mission to extract wounded from a very hot landing zone, Fulghum’s
aircraft was flying at approximately 800 feet when it took five rounds of
small arms fire to the main rotor and engine area and crashed. The Army had only recently awarded Fulghum the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying his
helicopter into fierce fighting five times to retrieve over thirty-seven
wounded American soldiers near Lai Khe.
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John
E. Fuqua died in Vietnam during OPERATION MASHER on January 31, 1966 from enemy
fire while serving with “A” Company, 1/7 Cavalry. He had previously been awarded the Bronze
Star.
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Wesley Gilley and thirty other U.S. servicemen died during a German
ambush on February 20, 1945 in southern France.
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Marcus A. Golczynski
KIA 2007 Al Anbar,
Iraq
India Company, 3/24 Marines
Aaron Thompson’s award-winning
photo for Murfreesboro, TN’s Daily News
Journal of Christian Golczynski at his father’s
funeral touched the nation and symbolized the courage and sacrifice exemplified
by
US military families.
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Thomas R. Hicks (Class of 1940)
joined the military in 1942, and had four brothers serve with him during
WWII. He was killed while serving with
the 330th Infantry in France on July 11, 1944.
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David M. Hierholzer
KIA Afghanistan 2006
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James V. Howard
Vietnam 1968
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George Hightower died in northern France during World War I.
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Kenneth L. Kirkes
Vietnam 1968
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Lewis A. Key (Class of 1940) was
killed in action in Italy on December 5, 1943.
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Max J. Knox loved to fly and even
circled his formation of B-17 bombers over Murfreesboro twice en route to England in 1942. His B-17 bomber, “Hellzapoppin,”
appeared in Life magazine after it limped home badly damaged from a raid over
France.
While ferrying a general to North Africa, Knox’s plane was lost during a
storm over the Meditteranean Sea in November 1942.
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Norman
W. Lane was a quiet, but hard-working student who later became a
U.S. Army medic. He was with Company
A, 315th Medical Battalion near Normandy when he was killed by enemy fire
while trying to tend to his wounded comrades.
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Rufus K. Locker joined the U.S.
Army Air Force in 1939 and was killed in battle over England in 1944.
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James
T. Luscinski died in Quang
Tri Province (I Corps) South Vietnam on October 8, 1969 while on a rescue
support mission in his AH-1G gunship for “D” Company (the Redskins), 158th
Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
Luscinski was flying a rescue support
mission to locate another AH-1G that had crashed in bad weather in the A Shau Valley when enemy ground fire struck the tail rotor
of his aircraft, causing it to spin and crash, killing both crewmembers.
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Patrick
H. McBride died in a military vehicle accident while training in Germany
on August
10-11, 1969.
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Robert J. McClintoch
played football and basketball at STC before joining the U.S. Army in
1942. He served with Company D, 50th
Engineer Battalion on the Aleutian Island of Attu.
Assigned to build an air base in an area believed to be secure, McClintoch and the other engineers soon found themselves
fending off a surprise Japanese night attack.
McClintoch and many other soldiers from his
company were killed in the fighting.
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William J. McCrory
(Class of 1941), nicknamed “Ug” by his peers, was
an awe-inspiring figure on campus. His
toughness, handsome features, and his participation in choir, drama,
baseball, and football made him the toast of the campus. He joined the U.S. Marines, serving in 1/9,
3rd Marine Division. Hitting the beach
at Iwo Jima in February 1945, witnesses
“explained that [McCrory’s] company had suffered
many casualties during a vicious all-day attack against a formidable enemy
defense. They said that prior to
digging in for the night, Capt. McCrory learned
that the company's right flank was exposed, presenting a serious defensive problem.
He made a complete survey under intense small arms, mortar, and artillery
fire, and so arranged the defensive position that the troops were afforded
ample protection. While returning to
his foxhole after the mission, he was hit by a shell fragment. Comrades ran to his rescue but his death
was almost instantaneous.”
  
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William
J. McConnell, nicknamed the “Little Parson” and author of the original MTSU
alma mater, died of pneumonia while serving with the Red Cross in Germany
during World War I.
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Orbry H. Moore (Class of 1941) served
with the 345th Group, 501st Squadron of the Fifth Air Force in the South
Pacific. During a raid at Rabaul Harbor, New Guinea on November
2, 1943,
Japanese anti-aircraft fire hit Moore’s B-25 and witness
saw the plane go down but were unsure of the crew’s condition. Extensive searches found no sign of Moore’s plane or crew.
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William D. Neely, III graduated from
the civilian pilot training program based at STC and served in North Africa
flying the P-38 “Lightening.” He
earned a citation from General James Doolitte for
heroism while escorting B-17s over Bo Rizzo, Sicily and awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross. While training new
pilots in Libya during May 1943, Neely’s P-38
went into an unrecoverable dive and crashed.
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Sam T. Nisbett
(Class of 1939) joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and contracted leukemia during
training at Fort McClellan, Alabama.
He died within a few weeks.
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Paul N. Osteen was drafted in 1944
and was killed by shrapnel to the chest during the battle of St. Lo, France.
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Constant S. Owen, Jr. (Class of
1938) was the first Blue Raider to perish in World War II. Commissioned with the U.S. Army Air Force
in 1941, he died in Connecticut when his fast recon plane crashed
during training in May 1942.
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Walter Pennell
joined the U.S. Army Air Force shortly after the war began, and died in a
1943 training accident in Virginia.
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Pierre
Piche, a veteran of OPERATION DESERT SHIELD /
DESERT STORM and Bosnia,
died during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60
Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over Mosul,
Iraq,
on November
15, 2003.
He belonged to Company A, 626th Forward Support Battalion, 101st
Airborne Division.
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Don
C. Reed
Killed
during helicopter training mission 1970
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John W.
Reeves, Jr. piloted a B-24 over Europe.
During a massive raid over Hungary on August 22, 1944, Reeves’s bomber was hit by
enemy flak, fell out of formation, and crashed. The local Murfreesboro VFW 4575 is
partially named in his honor.
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Edgar L. Rogers, Jr. was flight engineer
on a B-17 stationed in Alaska, serving alongside fellow college
alum and navigator, Francis Cornwell. Their aging bomber was one of two tasked
with locating the Japanese carrier task force threatening the Aleutian Islands.
Against all odds, they located the carrier, radioed its position to
vector other attack aircraft, and made a desperate bombing run
themselves. The plane was destroyed,
but the Japanese carrier force was eventually destroyed as well.
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Robert J. Sarvis
(Class of 1941), a Canadian native, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force just
after Pearl Harbor. Attached to the
U.S. Army Air Corps in Europe flying Lancaster bombers, his first combat mission
was on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Later, returning from a massive Allied bombing raid targeting Stuttgart, Germany on July 25, 1944, German fighters attacked, crippling his aircraft. Sarvis ordered
his crew to bail out, and the last crew member to do so reported his captain
still at the controls. According to
witnesses, a second German fighter strafed the falling plane, killing Sarvis. The
damaged B-25 then crashed into the English Channel.
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Arthur J. Scates
left school to fly B-24 Liberator bombers over North Africa.
His plane was shot down off the coast of Crete in July 1943.
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James L. Schleicher played three
sports while at MTSU and graduated at the top of his flight class. He served as an instructor and later became
a test pilot for the B-29. As one of
the first to fly these massive long-range bombers, Schleicher was assigned to
the 678th AAF Sqadron, 20th Air Force the
China-Burma-India theater. On June 26, 1944, his plane exploded in mid-air somewhere between India and China.
Sabotage was suspected.
 
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Edward S. Seward served as a medic
in the South Pacific. He was served on
Guadalcanal and Borneo, where he was recognized for performing his duties under
enemy fire. Waiting for transport home
at the end of the war on the Philippine Island of Leyte,
he volunteered to work in the field hospital alongside the airstrip. An incoming plane crashed into the facility
and killed Seward.
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Allan J. Sewart,
MTSU’s most decorated fallen veteran, was a quiet,
friendly student. He was a veteran of
Midway and the Solomons. In his brief career, Sewart
was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, Distinguished
Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and two Purple Hearts. His commander described him as the best
officer he had ever known. He was
killed during a bombing raid on November 18,
1942. The Smyrna Air Base was named to honor him
in 1950.
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Robert Kenneth Smith joined the
U.S. Army Air Force shortly after enrolling at MTSU in 1943. He served as a ball turrent
gunner on bomber, perhaps the most hazardous position on the aircraft, during
bombing raids over Europe. Shortly after
takeoff on January 29, 1945, Smith’s plane made an evasive
maneuver to avoid a crippled bomber attempting an emergency landing but
collided with another plane and crashed.
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Roger E. Smith (Class of 1942) was
a former student body president, and football standout who became MTSU’s highest decorated Navy/Marine Corps fallen
veteran. He took time to write the Sidelines frequently to provide
first-hand accounts of the war to fellow classmates back home. He served with the legendary Marine Raider
Battalions and the 4th Marines. He
assaulted Guam with the 1st Division, 4th Marines.
There, as a mortar platoon leader on July
21, 1944,
Smith came to the rescue of a wounded rifleman lying next to a hostile enemy
pillbox. Advancing toward this
position, Smith was mortally wounded, but managed to silence the enemy
guns.
 
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Rufe E. Tipps
served as an artilleryman with the U.S. Army’s 90th Infantry Division. He was killed near Cherbourg, France eight days after D-Day.
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Charles
G. Tucker died in South
Vietnam on April 6, 1965
when enemy .50 caliber ground fire hit the UH-1B helicopter he was piloting
was on a close air support mission.
Flying at 300 feet and 70 knots, Tucker’s aircraft from the 114th
Assault Helicopter Company took fire over the target area, crashed inverted,
and exploded, killing all four crewman on board. He previously had received the
Distinguished Flying Cross.
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Michael
C. Vickery
KIA
Vietnam 1970
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Bryan Turner
served as a medic and died off the coast of the Azores when his transport ship collided
with a French aircraft carrier.
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Leonard White was a D-Day veteran
and was killed in France on December 4, 1944.
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Alton Whitlow served in the U.S.
Army as an infantry sergeant and was killed in France in October 1944.
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Carl Yates joined the U.S. Navy in
1942 and became part of the Underwater Demolitions Team, the predecessors to
the modern-day Navy SEALs. He was directing his UDT-14 team while
scouting enemy defenses prior to the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima when a Japanese shore gun hit the
ship’s bridge, killing him.
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