Beau Ramsey Beaulieu, age 20, from Lisbon, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Company, 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Tx 76544
Date of death: Monday, May 24, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Taji, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Daniel Francis Cunningham Jr., age 33, from Lewiston, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: C Battery 1st Battalion 41st Field Artillery, Fort Stewart, Georgia 31314
Date of death: Sunday, April 4, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Iraq
Source: Department of Defense
Allen Melvin Hutchinson, age 20, from Auburn, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Parents: Belle Hillman Hutchinson and Waldo Hutchinson
Spouse: Cheryl (Piper)
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Edward Little High graduate
Date of death: Thursday, February 5, 1970
Death details: Killed in action while on a reconnaissance patrol in South Vietnam.
Source: National Archives, Portland Press Herald (1970)
Roscoe Edward Halliday from Maine, Androscoggin county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, June 11, 1953
Death details: Late at night on June 10, 1953, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched an attack against an important American outpost known as “Outpost Harry,” which commanders had deemed a “major outpost…to be held at all costs.” Following hours of intense bombardment, Chinese infantry attacked the American trench lines in front of the outpost. The CCF succeeded in capturing the trenches but intense hand-to-hand combat kept the CCF from advancing farther. Attacks persisted through the next day and late into June 11. By the morning of June 12, the Chinese forces withdrew. Similar assaults continued on “Outpost Harry” through the next week. First Lieutenant Roscoe Edward Halliday Jr. entered the U.S. Army from Maine and served in Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action during the CCF assault on “Outpost Harry,” though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. There is no evidence suggesting he was alive in enemy hands and his remains were not located following the battle. Today, First Lieutenant Halliday is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
John M. Nutting, age 35, from North Leeds, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, October 23, 1951
Death details: On October 23, 1951, a B-29A Superfortress (tail number 44-94045, call sign “Able 1”) departed Kadena Air Base, Japan, carrying thirteen crew members on a bombing mission targeting Namsi Air Field in northwest North Korea. “Able 1” flew as a part of a strike force that included ten B-29s with fighter support. As the formation approached the target, it was attacked by anti-aircraft artillery fire and MiG-15 fighters. Just after “Able 1” completed its bombing run, it was hit in the right wing fuel tank, causing an explosion with a large amount of smoke. The damaged aircraft was flying under control but was losing altitude, and it eventually crashed on a mud flat near the island of Sinmi-Do. Initial searches that continued until October 26, failed to locate the missing Superfortress or its crew. On October 29, a United Nations Partisan Infantry Korea (UNPIK) team discovered the aircraft’s wreckage along with the remains of the radio operator and navigator, but the increasing enemy activity and the rising tide in the area prevented further recovery efforts that day. Returning the next day, UNPIK discovered that one set of these remains had washed away. However, the team collected another body, which they removed for temporary burial on the island of Oesun-Do. In early November 1951, the remains of a third body that was believed to be the radar operator washed ashore on Ho-Do where it was buried by UNPIK forces. Attempts to locate the Oesun-Do an Ho-Do burial sites or recovery of any of the other missing crew remains from the crash site, have been unsuccessful following the war. Captain John Mainard Nutting entered the U.S. Air Force from Maine and was assigned to the 371st Bombardment Squadron, 307th Bombardment Wing. He was the navigator aboard this Superfortress when it was lost. A partisan guerrilla unit reported to a United Nations Command liaison that the body of Capt Nutting was found near the wreckage. However, due to enemy forces in the area, they were unable to recover the remains. When they returned the next day, the body was gone. It is unknown if it was recovered by the enemy or washed out to sea, and Capt Nutting remains unaccounted-for. Today, Captain Nutting is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Robert Nelson Fenderson from Auburn, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Spouse: Ida Evangeline Fenderson
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, December 18, 1944
Death details: He was aboard the destroyer USS Hull as it operated as part of the Fast Carrier Strike Force in the Philippine Sea. On December 17, 1944, the Hull was participating in refueling operations when the ships of its fueling group were engulfed by Typhoon Cobra. The Hull lost its ability to steer amid the enormous waves and began taking on water. The Hull eventually took on too much water to stay afloat and rolled and sank shortly before noon, on December 18. Sixty-two crew members were rescued, but a little more than two-hundred crew members were lost in the sinking.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Fernand Louis Ouellette, age 29, from Lewiston, Maine, Androscoggin county.
Parents: Donat Ouellette
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: From November 20 through 23, 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy conducted a large-scale amphibious assault on the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa as part of Operation Galvanic, the Allied capture of the Gilbert Islands. Located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, Tarawa was a crucial stepping stone in the planned U.S. offensive across the central Pacific toward Japan. The Japanese garrison on Tarawa’s main island of Betio was well-entrenched with hundreds of bunkers and gun positions behind formidable beach obstacles. The first wave of Marines approaching the shore encountered lower-than-expected tides, forcing them to leave their landing craft on the reef and wade the hundreds of yards to the beach under intense enemy fire. The heaviest number of U.S. casualties were suffered during this phase of the landing. Eventually, rising tides allowed U.S. warships to maneuver closer to shore and support the troops with effective naval gunfire. More Marines landed on the second day, launching attacks inland from the beaches and seizing the Japanese airfield on the island. However, the enemy launched vicious counterattacks and two more days of intense fighting were needed to secure Betio. The last enemy strongpoints were taken on the morning of November 23. The fighting on Betio cost the Marines nearly 3,000 casualties but enabled U.S. forces to press further across the Pacific and yielded valuable tactical lessons that reduced U.S. losses in future amphibious landings. Private First Class Fernand Louis Ouellette, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Maine, was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which took part in the Battle of Tarawa. He was killed in action on November 20. Private First Class Ouellette was buried in Main Marine Cemetery, Cemetery #33, Grave #1, Row #3, Plot #15, but after the war his remains were not recovered. Private First Class Ouellette is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Douglas L. Larlee from Maine, Androscoggin county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, June 30, 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 First Class Douglas L. Larlee entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Maine and served with the 17th Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of malaria and dysentery on June 30, 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 First Class Larlee is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Alden M. Gayton from Androscoggin County Auburn, Maine .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: Died of wounds
Source: Soldiers of the Great War