Obituaries

Marines from the Marine Band, “The President’s Own”, and the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. (8th and I) conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps retired Gen. Alfred Gray, Jr. in Section 35 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, July 29, 2024.

Gray enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1950 and served as a radio operator with the Amphibious Reconnaissance Platoon in Korea. He deployed eight times over his 41-year career, including leading the first independent ground operations by a Marine unit in Vietnam. During these deployments, Gray pioneered modern signals intelligence collection methods and was a lifelong advocate of such techniques, leading to the establishment of two units that formed the center of what is now the Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion.

As Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gray championed academics and professional education, and implemented a required reading of at least two books each year for Marines of all ranks (chosen from a list he hand-selected). Gray received many awards during his career, including the Silver Star, Legion of Merit (w/ V device and 1 gold star), Bronze Star (w/ V device and 3 gold stars), and a Distinguished Service Medal from the Department of Defense, Navy (w/ 1 gold star), Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Gray was interred with his wife, Janie Ann Gray. As Gray and his wife had no surviving family, U.S. Marine Corps retired Lt. Gen. George Flynn received the U.S. flag from Gray’s funeral service.

(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)

WWII Navy veteran and Shell Oil executive dies at 102

William Henry “Bill” Temmink, a Shell oil sales representative and World War II veteran, died of fall-related complications Nov. 20 at Stella Maris Hospice in Maryland. The former Roland Park and Ruxton resident was 102.

WWII hero, artist and teacher Yoshio Nakamura dies at 100, leaving ‘extraordinary legacy’

Yoshio Nakamura was 16 when he was forced to report to the Gila River Camp in Arizona. From the internment camp, Nakamura enlisted in the Army at 19, joining the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team of “Go for Broke!” fame.

A 1970s-era image of an Air Force officer in dress uniform shaking hands with a woman as other well-wishers look on.

Former Vietnam War POW featured in Pulitzer-winning photo dies at 92

Lt. Col. Robert Stirm, the Air Force officer whose return from captivity during the Vietnam War was captured in an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph in 1973, has reportedly died at age 92.

more Obituaries news

David Mazzarella, editor who championed independent military journalism at Stars and Stripes, dies at 87

David Mazzarella, 87, served as both editorial director and ombudsman for Stars and Stripes from 2000-2009. Prior to that, he spent five years as the editor of USA Today.

Army general who served as Fort McClellan’s commander, dies at 90

Maj. Gen. Gerald G. Watson was given the title of The Modern Father of the Chemical Corps and advocated for the Chemical Corps throughout his life.

A doctor in a white coat poses for a photo in front of black and white medical images.

Joseph Giordano, former Army surgeon who helped save Reagan’s life, dies at 84

Drawing on his experience as an Army doctor, Dr. Giordano organized a new trauma unit at George Washington University Hospital where he treated President Ronald Reagan after he was shot during an assassination attempt in 1981.

An elderly couple, seen from the waist up, laugh while seated next to each other.

Former Stars and Stripes journalist who played kazoo on ‘Woodstock’ album dies at 77

David Allen, a Navy veteran and longtime Stars and Stripes journalist who reported from Guam and Okinawa for nearly two decades, died after a prolonged battle with cancer at the age of 77.

An elderly couple, seen from the neck up, smile while looking forward and posing.

Longtime educator for Defense Department schools in South Korea, England dies at 80

Don Miller, a mathematics and computer science teacher who spent more than three decades serving Defense Department students overseas, died at his home in Camas, Wash., at the age of 80.

Marine Corps veteran William Parks stands with the service's Silent Drill Platoon during a Marine Week celebration in Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 3, 2025. Parks died June 5, 2025, at age 94.

Final salute: Active-duty Marines honor Korean War veteran days before his death

A Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War who said he had joined the military at 15 spent some of the final hours of his life with active-duty Marines at a birthday bash for the service in his native Tennessee.

A Legion of Honor medal sits on display before being presented to an American World War II Veteran aboard the USS Bataan during the Legion of Honor Ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., May 7, 2016. During the ceremony the Consulate General of France, Philippe Létrilliart, awarded nine American veterans with the Legion of Honor Medal for their heroic actions during the invasion of Normandy. The purpose of the event was to remember how important it is to pay tribute to the veterans who served so valiantly and also to highlight the long-standing friendship between the United States and France. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michelle Reif/Released.)

Marthe Cohn, a Jewish spy in Nazi Germany, dies at 105

After joining the French resistance in 1944, Marthe Cohn spent a month in Germany, passing as a German nurse while making small talk with SS officers and Nazi soldiers, gathering information about troop movements. Her spying is credited with saving the lives of Allied troops pressing in on the Reich.

Mathematician Peter Lax wearing a black suit.

Peter Lax, mathematician who found order in the natural world, dies at 99

Peter Lax, an innovator in applied mathematics who left Hungary during World War II and worked on U.S. atomic bomb calculations as a college student, died May 16 at his home in Manhattan. He was 99.

A vertical image of Joe Don Baker from the shoulders up, wearing a blue polo.

Actor Joe Don Baker, an Army veteran who wielded a big stick in ‘Walking Tall,’ dies at 89

Joe Don Baker went into the U.S. Army for two years and then emerged in New York, where he studied at the Actors Studio. His acting career took off in the mid-1960s when he moved to Los Angeles, where he started with TV roles before taking the spotlight as a leading man in movies like “Walking Tall” and some James Bond films.