White, Gary Richard
Army Corporal
Gary Richard White, age 22, from Hewett, West Virginia, Boone county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, May 16, 1970
Source: National Archives
White, Gary Richard
Mollett, Chester Aubrey
Marines Sergeant
Chester Aubrey Mollett, age 26, from Peytona, West Virginia, Boone county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, February 16, 1970
Death details: Died from combat wounds
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Fowler, David Allen
Army Private 1st class
David Allen Fowler, age 18, from Julian, West Virginia, Boone county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 18, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Sutphin, Conrad Edison
Army Private
Conrad Edison Sutphin from West Virginia, Boone county.
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. Private First Class Conrad Edison Sutphin joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, while serving as a security unit for the 3rd Battalion near Unsan, Company M was hit by an enemy attack and forced to withdraw. They faced continued attacks during the withdrawal, and it was during this time that PFC Sutphin went missing, though specific circumstances surrounding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Private First Class Sutphin is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives
Warren, Ira
Army Private
Ira Warren, age 26, from West Virginia, Boone county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 194 Tank Battalion
Date of death: Sunday, July 19, 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 Ira Warren joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of the Headquarters Company of the 194th Tank Battalion in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of cerebral malaria on July 19, 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 Warren is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency