Family Veterans:
Military Heroes, War Dead, and Veterans
On Memorial Day of 2006 I resolved to give a brief accounting of those who sacrificed for their country in military service. Following, grouped by conflict in reverse chronological order, are the contributions of our family's notable veterans.
Persian Gulf War, Operation DESERT STORM (1991)
Thomas Allen Jenkins, LCpl, USMC
- Killed by friendly fire while repelling an Iraqi incursion into Saudi Arabia at Khafji, February 1991. Age 21.
Vietnam War (1964-1975)
Jimmy Lee Fisher, Cpl, USA
- Long An, Southern Vietnam, November 15, 1967. Age 20.
Korean War (1950-1953)
Walter Day "Jay" Beaman, Jr., USAF
Theodoric "Bud" Malugani, USAF
World War II (1941-1945)
William V. Converse, CPT, USA Air Corps
- Killed in action, presumably as a B-17 bomber pilot, over Holland, May 18, 1943. Age 24.
Oliver Albert Goodwin, Jr., USN
- Died during the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, July 1945. Age 33.
Robert G. Guglielmetti, USN
- Died in an airplane crash during training over the Pamlico Sound, Florida, November 1942
- Died on April 12, 1942, in Solano County, California following contraction of measle and pneumonia while serving with the U.S. Navy. Age 20.
Herbert Dennis Shaw, CM1C, USN
- Died during the sinking of the U.S.S. Houston (CA-30) by the Japanese in the Sundra Strait of Indonesia off the island of Java, March 1, 1942; 638 of the crew of 1,008 perished and the rest were taken prisoner by the Japanese. Herbert was about age 37.
- Served as a gunners mate and killed aboard the U.S.S. Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, December 7, 1941. Age 23.
Doyle Sherman Beaman, USA
- Served with the 1st Ranger Battalion in Sicily and Italy; captured at either Anzio or Cisterno and held as a prisoner of war through the rest of the war.
Walter Day "Jay" Beaman, Jr., USA
William F. Bellon, USA
Warren G. Epps, Sergeant, US(MC)
- Served in Saipan, Okinawa, and Korea; awarded the Purple Heart on June 20, 1945, after being wounded at Okinawa
Michael Magatelli, USA
- Served in the European Theater.
Jerome J. Marci, PFC, USA
- Served in the Philippine Islands as a light scout machine gunner; twice awarded the Bronze Star and earned a Purple Heart
Louis Wayne "Bill" Thomas, USN
- Served with the Navy Seabees in Okinawa
World War I
Spanish-American War (1898)
Henry Lee Bond, Pvt, USA
- Served in the Philippine Islands and Philippine Insurrection (~1898-1902); died on January 26, 1941, at the Veterans' Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico following decades of complications from malaria and dysentary contracted during his service
Thomas James Goodwin, USN
- Enlisted as a Navy fireman following the explosion aboard the U.S.S. Maine; after his discharge he worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a stationary engineer and died there 30 years later in an explosion, September 1, 1931
Civil War, Union (1861-1865)
Henry B. and George W. Converse
- Brothers Henry and George Converse are said to have died in the service of the Union Army
- Died at Petersburg, Virginia on March 25, 1865, (Union or Confederate?), age 22
- Died at the U.S. General Hospital, Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Janaury 24, 1865, age 33
Erastus Taylor Converse, Pvt, Iowa 6th Cavalry, Company "I"
- Served in Brigadier General Sully's Expedition against the Sioux Indians in the Dakota Territory
John Jackson Fisher3, Pvt, Iowa 7th Cavalry, Company E
- Served first year at home with the mumps; returned for service, August 1864-August 1865, and then deserted on 29 August
Francis Marion Kester, 2CPL, Iowa 22nd Infantry, Company "A"
Isaac Dennis Miller7, Pvt, Iowa 24th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, Company D
- Wounded in the right leg at the Battle of Champion's Hill (May 16, 1863) on the road to Vicksburg, Mississippi and again a year later at the Battle of Opequon Creek (September 19, 1864) on the road to Winchester, Virginia, leaving his right leg crippled. Age 20.
Allen Chapman5, Iowa 37th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, Company E
- Allen and "the Graybeard Regiment" performed guard and garrison duty during several deployments in the Mississippi Valley
Benjamin Franklin Chapman, Iowa 11th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, Company A
- The 11th Iowa served in the Army of the Tennessee and engaged in the Battle of Shiloh, the Mississippi Campaign, and March to the Sea in Georgia
Madison Green Chapman, Iowa 19th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, Company F
Charles Wesley Chapman, Iowa 19th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, Company F
- The 19th Iowa served with the Army of the Frontier and saw combat in northwest Arkansas and the Vicksburg Campaign. After the victorious Seige of Vicksburg the regiment was routed at the Battle of Stirling's Plantation in Louisiana and marched to Camp Ford, Texas, where they were imprisoned. It is not yet known if Madison and Charles were captured and taken prisoner.
War of 1812 (1812-1815)
Paul Kester2, Lanier's Independent Battalion of Ohio Militia
- Killed upon return home to Preble County, Ohio
Revolutionary War (1775-1781)
James Chapman3, Pvt, Virginia Militia
- Served under Maj Boice at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, 16 August 1780, and later at the Battle of Yorktown, October 19, 1781
John "Jack" Chapman, Virginia Militia
- Served in the Seige of Charleston, South Carolina, and second battle for Charleston
John Ulrich, Pvt, First Partisan Corps ("Armand's Legion")
- Likely served in Gen Kazimierz "Casimir" Pułaski's Legion (1778-1779) before Col Charles Armand ("Colonel Armand") Tuffin, Marquis De La Rouërie, took over the legion after Pułaski's death at the Battle of Savannah (October 11, 1779) and renamed it as the First Partisan Corps; "altercations" in 1782 on the return, presumably to New York following Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, Virginia (October 19, 1781)