Who is Jimmy Cross, Ted Lavender, Mitchell Sanders, Rat Kiley, Lee from The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories and what is their importance?

Ted Lavender is the character who dies in the short story, "The Things They Carried." In this story, he is a very nervous, superstitious character and a lot of the things he carried are for protection against death and harm. When he dies, the men who are serving with him are deeply disturbed.