2,100 Utah WWII Fallen Each Have a Story
For the first time in history, it is possible to find a story about everyone of the WWII fallen from a single state -- Utah.
This is how it happened
Just after the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2016, lifelong history buff Don Milne, began a personal passion project where everyday he wrote a story about one of the US World War II fallen on the 100th anniversary of their birthday. He did this each day on his lunch break and ended up with more than 1,300 stories saved in his WW2Fallen100 blog. These stories had been read more than 1 million times, but he was planning to wrap things up on September 2, 2020. The 75th anniversary of the end of WWII would be a nice date to end this one- man tribute to the fallen. His readers wanted him to keep going. However, at one story a day it would take more than 1,100 years to write a story of everyone of the 421,000+ US WWII fallen. To write more stories, he was going to need help.
In the fall of 2019, after a 29 year career at Zions Bank, Milne’s position at the bank was eliminated. He found himself with the choice of finding a new job in the financial services field, or taking a leap of faith to set up a project to finish what he started - actually tell the stories of ALL the 421,000+ US WWII fallen. With the part-time help of his daughter Tatiana Fallon, Milne created the nonprofit initiative Stories Behind the Stars. Its mission was simple - 1) get a story for everyone of the US WWII fallen, and 2) develop a smartphone app so anyone could read those stories at any gravestone or memorial.
To make this happen, he was going to need a list of the fallen and get a whole bunch of help from others to write the stories.
Readers may be surprised to learn that there is no accurate, official national list of the US WWII fallen names. There isn’t even an accurate official count. Milne decided to start with his then home state of Utah. If he could do all the names from one state, that would prove it could be done for any state.
To do all the names from Utah, he had to get the Utah list of fallen, and since no such list existed, he had to create it. Milne was able to get a good start with a list provided by Roy Hemmat of HonorStates.org. HonorStates.org is a project to create a database of US military fallen from World War I through the Vietnam War. He then compared that to the National Archives and Records Administration’s Army and Navy WWII Honor Rolls. Last of all, he added names from the 3 February 1946 issue of the Deseret News that attempted to list all the Utah WWII fallen. In the end, he ended up with a spreadsheet with 2,100 names.
Milne then created training documents and videos showing people how easy it was to research and write obituary length stories. By the summer he was ready to find volunteers to help. Local news stories in the Provo Daily Herald, the Ogden Standard Examiner, KSL.com, Utah Public Radio, and the Extreme Genes podcast, reached the help he needed. Eventually he attracted 126 volunteers -- most were from Utah, but they also came from 27 other states and even Canada. These volunteers ranged in age from teens to pushing ninety. Many had family who served in World War II, sometimes not coming home. Many have served in the military themselves. Some had decades of genealogical experience. Others were rookies but quick learners.
Utah based Ancestry.com pitched in by granting Stories Behind the Stars with institutional status like a library. This provided a way for volunteers to access key research sites for free. Ancestry’s Fold3 division, especially created to honor those who served in the military, stepped up to serve as the common database to hold all these stories in online memorials, free to access by anyone.
Some of the 126 volunteers contributed one or two stories and moved on. Others did a dozen stories, or two dozen, or even more - up to 200+! It would take one person nearly three years of 8 hour workdays to research and write all of these stories. The Utah pilot project volunteers did it in six months.
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Two years later, the Find A Grave smartphone app can now be used to read these stories at any gravesite or memorial, such as the new Utah Veterans Memorial in West Valley City, Utah. Find out more here.
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One Utah family lost four sons. Listen to the Stories Behind the Stars podcast of the Borgstrom brothers.
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Read Their Stories
Lt Howard Merrill
7 Dec 1941 - Howard Merrill was born under challenging circumstances. His mother died when he was one month old. Despite this rough start, Howard thrived and was appointed to attend the US Naval Academy. After graduating he was assigned to the battleship USS Arizona. He was killed during the December 7 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first Utahn killed in World War II. Read full story here
-- Contributed by Stories Behind the Stars founder Don Milne, Kentucky, wrote 50+ Utah fallen stories
Sgt Ronald Luckey
22 Jul 1942 - Ronald Luckey was captured by Japanese in the Philippines and survived the Bataan Death March only to succumb to malaria a few months later..
-- Contributed by Steve McGee, Texas, wrote 11 Utah fallen stories
Fireman 1/c Orluff Oram
13 Nov 1942 - When he was 16 years old Orluff Oram lost a brother and his mother in a two month period. He joined the Navy and served on the destroyer USS Monssen, taking part in the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and was killed when Monssen was sunk in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
-- Contributed by Preston Freitas, Utah, wrote 10 Utah fallen stories
Pvt William Brandon
27 Nov 1943 - At age 38, William Brandon was much older than the usual draftee and after a year of training he had the bad luck of being on the British transport ship HMT Rohna which was hit by a German guided missile and sank, killing more troops than were killed on the USS Arizona.
-- Contributed by Valerie Wood, Utah, wrote 12 Utah fallen stories
1st Lt Edmund Duckworth
6 Jun 1944 - Silver Star hero Edmund Duckworth fought in North Africa and Sicily, only to die on D-Day, 5 days after he was married.
-- Contributed by Susan Singleton, Illinois, wrote 130+ Utah fallen stories
Pvt Joseph Fitt
13 Jun 1944 - Silver Star hero Joseph Fitt, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and helped liberate the first town in France when he charged a tank and dropped a grenade down its hatch. He was killed by a sniper one week later.
-- Contributed by Jenna Rabtzow, Colorado, wrote 20+ Utah fallen stories
PFC Clay Rosenvall
7 Sep 1944 - Clay Rosenvall became a prisoner of war after the fall of the Philippines in the spring of 1942. He survived two years of brutal captivity only to be killed when the unmarked ship he was being transported on was sunk by an American submarine.
-- Contributed by LuAnn Greenwell, Utah, wrote 70+ Utah fallen stories.
PFC Fred Yamamoto
28 Oct 1944 - Despite being relocated to an internment camp with his family, Fred Yamamoto still volunteered to serve his country and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star after fighting to rescue American troops cut off by the Germans.
-- Contributed by Randy Hervey, Colorado, wrote 90+ Utah fallen stories.
Ensign Robert Landes
11 Dec 1944 - Robert Landes was an ensign on the destroyer USS Reid when it was attacked by a dozen kamikazes. After the order was given to abandon ship, Landes stayed behind to get as many men off as possible.
-- Contributed by Molly Brown, Utah, wrote 30+ Utah fallen stories
PFC Tyndale Lloyd
20 Feb 1945 - Marine Tyndale Lloyd was a Salt Lake Tribune sports reporter before the war. As a Marine he earned the Bronze Star and fought at Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima where he died on the second day of the battle.
-- Contributed by Mac Kolar, North Carolina, wrote 2 Utah fallen stories
Seaman William Thiessen
17 May 1945 - William Thiessen was killed when a kamikaze plane hit the destroyer USS Douglas H. Fox. His widowed high school sweetheart never remarried and they are buried side by side.
-- Contributed by John Schlatter, Utah, wrote 150+ Utah fallen stories
PFC Jack Fuller
3 Aug 1945 - Jack Fuller was perhaps the last Utahn killed in battle by the Japanese, just three days before the first atomic bomb dropped. He left behind his widowed high school sweetheart.
-- Contributed by Troy Burnett, Utah, who wrote 20+ Utah fallen stories
Find more Utah fallen stories here
Thank You
Stories Behind the Stars would like to publicly thank all the volunteers who contributed to the success of this project.
Read why they did it here.
Contributing 201+ stories:
Kim Dixon, Utah
Viki Strong, Utah
Contributing 101-200 stories:
Brianne Ellison, Utah
Randy Hervey, Colorado
John Schlatter, Utah
Susan Singleton, Illinois
Contributing 51-100 stories:
Mike Appleby, Colorado
Pam Baker, Alabama
Teri Fronk, Utah
LuAnn Greenwell, Utah
Contributing 11-50 stories:
JoDene Arakelian, Utah
Lisa Arnold, Texas
Lisa Brocadello Bergeson, Colorado
Molly Brown, Utah
Coby Crump, Utah
Jonathon Floyd, Utah
Amie Gutierrez, Michigan
Debra Holley, Utah
Jay Jones, Utah
John Lannefeld, Utah
Lisa McCole, Missouri
Mary Peterson, Minnesota
Michael Plymale, West Virginia
Jenna Rabtzow, Colorado
Kathe Reber, Utah
Aarica Rice, Colorado
Al Schutte, Ohio
Elizabeth Shaw, South Carolina
Micheline Smith, Utah
Rhonda Steele, Colorado
Valerie Wood, Utah
Ginny Wortz, Indiana
Contributing 1-10 stories:
Angie Abram, Utah
Valerie Auld, Kansas
Aiden Bandiola, Utah
Kristin Barlow, Utah
Melissa Barocio, Utah
Michelle Bates, Oklahoma
Bette Bellefeuille, Idaho
Sheryly Binetti, Utah
Bette Bohman, Utah
Steve Booth, Utah
Tim Bowman, Alabama
Steve Brannan, Alabama
Andy Brockway, Ontario, Canada
Tyler Brownell, Colorado
Anna Burkholder, Utah
Troy Burnett, Utah
Dian Burton, Utah
Kagan Byron, Utah
Sam Carpenter, Utah
Marilyn Clark, Utah
Emily Collins, Wisconsin
Tracy Cook, California
Kim Crump, Utah
Dylan David, Utah
Esther Davis, Utah
Norma DeBrow, Alabama
Dennis Dupras, Alaska
Candice Empey, Texas
Pat Filippone, California
Preston Freitas, Utah
Donna French, Utah
Char Fulfer, Texas
Bryan Fusfield, Colorado
Amanda Greenwood, Utah
Amberlee Hansen, Utah
Judy Hansen, Utah
Amber Hatton, Utah
James Hooper, Texas
Mark Hutson, Wisconsin
Rose Jacklin, Utah
Michelle Kelleher, Alabama
Maxine Keller, Utah
Frank King, Florida
Joanne King, Florida
Mac Kolar, North Carolina
Emily Koresko, Georgia
Von Landon, Utah
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Contributing 1-10 stories:
Robert Leifson, Utah
Rick Leimbach, Utah
Deborah Lobey, Oregon
Tami Malan, Utah
Karen Marie McNichols, Illinois
Debbie Martin, Utah
Ashley Martinez, Utah
Autumn McFarland, Arizona
Steve McGee, Texas
Jerry McLaughlin, Georgia
Shawn Mecham, Utah
Sabina Morrey, Utah
Peri Muhich, Washington
Kaylene Mulvey, Utah
Marilyn Murphy, Wisconsin
Mark Nelson, Utah
Camille Noel, Utah
Allison Norman, Utah
Brad Olsen, Utah
Marianne Olsen, Utah
Eden Palmer, Illinois
Noelle Parent, Arizona
Lucy Peterson, Utah
Doug Phillips, Oregon
Deborah Pierce, Utah
Hugh Poland, Texas
Staci Porter, Utah
Judy Price, Indiana
Brandon Rhea, Utah
Rebecca Rogers, Utah
Sophia Shaprio, Utah
Beth Sano, Utah
Heather Sather-hansen, Utah
Linda Simpson, Oklahoma
Shauna Skog, Utah
Gary Smith, Colorado
Peggy Smith, North Carolina
Julie Sohlberg, Colorado
Samantha Strong, Utah
Ronalee Summers, Utah
Debra Swager, Idaho
Wendy Vincent, Utah
Linda Welker, Utah
Alison Wilde, Utah
Marti Wiser, Utah
Tina Yeagley, Utah
Anna Young, Utah