Joseph Herman IV Cantrell, age 23, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hht, 2D Squadron, 8Th Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas
Date of death: Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Taji, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, legacy.com
Scott Anthony Messer, age 26, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Service era: Iraq
Spouse: Jennifer Messer
Children: Hailee, 4; Natalie, 1
Parents: Joyce Johnson
Military history: Troop B, 1St Squadron, 32D Cavalry, 1St Bct, Fort Campbell, Ky
Date of death: Thursday, February 2, 2006
Death details: Ashraf, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Charles David Landis, age 20, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Parents: Myrna Landis
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Boyd County High graduate
Date of death: Sunday, April 16, 1972
Death details: Killed at his base camp in Vietnam when the area came under attack
Cemetery: Woodland in Ironton, Ohio
Source: National Archives, findagrave.com, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Carl Philip McCormick from Boyd County Ashland, Kentucky .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, November 5, 1971
Source: National Archives
David Bruce Sr. Toler, age 18, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Spouse: Linda F. Toler
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, September 15, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Louisville Courier Journal (1970), Associated Press (1970)
Phillip Gerald Wright, age 26, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Spouse: Ethel M. Wright
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, July 21, 1970
Death details: Killed in Indochina
Source: National Archives, Louisville Courier Journal (1970)
James Vernon Dawson, age 29, from Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Service era: Vietnam
Parents: William R. Dawson (1909 – 1981) and Marian B. Hitch Dawson (1911 – 1988)
Date of death: Wednesday, July 16, 1969
Death details: Captain James Vernon Dawson entered the U.S. Air Force from Kentucky and served with the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On July 16, 1969, he piloted a single-seat F-100D Super Sabre (tail number 56-3420, call sign “Elect 62”) as the second of two aircraft returning to Tuy Hoa Air Force Base, South Vietnam, from an uneventul combat mission. During his final approach to land, Capt Dawson overshot the runway, appeared to apply engine power, then lost control of the aircraft and ejected over the South China Sea. However, his parachute failed to open before he landed in the water. Search and rescue efforts could not locate him and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Captain Dawson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency