Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Jacob M. Moore, age 24, from Catlettsburg, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: “Raging Bulls” of Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 261 based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina
Date of death: Friday, March 18, 2022
Death details: Among four Marines who died when their MV-22B Osprey crashed near the town of Bodo, Norway.
Source: Jacksonville Daily News, Assosiated Press
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
Ralph Edward Kegley from Kentucky, Boyd county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, December 1, 1950
Death details:
On the evening of November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive attack against the U.S. and United Nations troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in northeast North Korea, resulting in a seventeen-day conflict that became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members the U.S. Army’s 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments were defending the area north of Sinhung-ni, on the east side of the reservoir. The defenders were overwhelmed by the numerically superior CCF, and on December 1, were forced to withdraw to friendly lines at Hagaru-ri. Chinese roadblocks from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri along with the constant enemy fire from the surrounding high ground, made the withdrawal route extremely dangerous. Eventually, the column was broken into separate segments, which the CCF attacked individually. Many men were lost or captured during the moving battle, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3.
Sergeant First Class Ralph Edward Kegley, who entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky, was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Initially reported missing in action, his status was later amended to killed in action on December 1 during the withdrawal to Hagaru-ri. His remains were not recovered at the time of his loss, or identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant First Class Kegley is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Randolph Allen, age 26, from Rush, Kentucky, Boyd county.
Parents: George B. Allen
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: Missing in action or buried at sea; The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office on July 21, 2014 announced that Pfc. Allen would be buried July 29 in Arlington National Cemetery. In November 1943, Allen was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, which landed on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll, in an attempt to secure the island against stiff Japanese resistance. Over several days of intense fighting approximately 1,000 Marines were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. As a result of these attacks, Allen was reported killed in action on Nov. 20, 1943. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries. During World War II, U.S. Navy Combat Engineers, “SeaBees,” significantly restructured the landscape to convert the island for use by the military. In 1946 when U.S. Army Graves Registration Service personnel attempted to locate all of the battlefield interments, many of the burials could not be located. From Nov. 12-27, 2013 a private organization, known as History Flight, excavated what was believed to be a war time fighting position on the island of Betio. During this excavation History Flight recovered five sets of remains, personal effects and military equipment. Four sets of remains were determined to be Japanese service members and the fifth set was believed to be that of a U.S. Marine. Two sets of military identification tags which correlated to Allen were also found in the fighting position. In the identification of Allen’s remains, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools such as dental and skeletal comparison, which matched Allen’s records.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial; Arlington National
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Department of Defense, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency