Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Mark A. Bradley, age 25, from Cuba, New York, Allegany county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Date of death: Thursday, June 16, 2011
Death details: Died while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Clifton P. Wolcott, age 36, from Cuba, New York, Allegany county.
Spouse: Christine Wolcott
Children: Son
Service era: Operation Restore Hope (Somalia)
Schools: Emory-Riddle Aeronautical University
Military history: 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Date of death: Sunday, October 3, 1993
Death details: Killed during a 16 hour fight with supporters of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters were brought down
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Tulsa World
Donald Neil Pensyl, age 20, from Wellsville, New York, Allegany county.
Spouse: Betty J. Pensyl
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, August 30, 1971
Death details: Non-hostile, illness, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1971)
Duane Carl Scott, age 20, from Friendship, New York, Allegany county.
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Monday, September 29, 1969
Death details: Killed by small arms fire, Pleiku Province
Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association
Leland Fred Blakeslee, age 19, from Bolivar, New York, Allegany county.
Parents: M.F. Blakeslee
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant Leland F. Blakeslee, who joined the U.S. Army from New York, was a member of Company K of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company K was in a defensive position within the 3rd Battalion sector near Unsan when they were hit by a surprise enemy mortar and infantry attack and forced to withdraw back to the 3rd Battalion’s command post. Units faced enemy fire during the withdrawal, and once near the command post, SGT Blakeslee was among a group of troops who were ambushed by enemy forces and scattered. Sergeant Blakeslee went missing at some point during the ambush, and could not be located following the incident. He was never reported as a prisoner of war and was not identified among the remains that North Korean officials returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant Blakeslee is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Olean Times Herald
Joseph R. Martin from New York, Allegany county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, June 9, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Joseph R. Martin entered the U.S. Army from New York and served in the 27th Materials Squadron, 20th Air Base Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured on Corregidor Island following the American surrender on May 6, 1942, and died of dysentery on June 9, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Martin is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency