Warren Kenneth Wolff, age 22, from Bremer County Janesville, Iowa .
Parents: Earl C. Wolff
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Janesville High graduate
Date of death: Thursday, November 18, 1971
Death details: Died after suffing from meningitis and encephalitis in Vietnam.
Source: National Archives, Waterloo Courier (1971)
Thomas Alan Porter, age 21, from Waverly, Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, February 20, 1970
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Des Moines Register (1970)
Verlyn Carl Bruns, age 24, from Waverly, Iowa, Bremer county.
Spouse: Shirley
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 11, 1970
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Paul Lloyd Milius from Waverly, Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: February 27, 1968
Death details: On February 27, 1968, an OP-2E Neptune (bureau number 131484) with a crew of nine took off from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on an armed reconnaissance mission against targets southwest of Ban Karai Pass, Khammouane Province, Laos. The aircraft was flying low over its assigned target area when it was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire, causing an explosion and fire that filled the flight deck with smoke. The pilot ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft before it crashed. Of the nine crew members, seven safely exited the aircraft by parachute and were subsequently rescued. One crew member was wounded when the plane was hit and was last seen, unmoving, still inside the aircraft as the other crew members bailed out. The pilot was last seen at the aircraft’s rear hatch and was not observed successfully bailing out. The survivors believed that neither the pilot nor the wounded crew member exited the aircraft, and both were lost in the crash. Search teams investigated the crash area but could not locate the two missing men.
Commander Paul Lloyd Milius entered the U.S. Navy from Iowa and was a member of Observation Squadron 67. He was the pilot of this Neptune when it crashed on February 27, 1968, and attempts to recover his remains have been unsuccessful. While carried in the status of MIA, the Navy promoted CDR Milius to the rank of Captain (CAPT). Today, Captain Milius is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Donald Paul McGrane, age 24, from Waverly, Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Vietnam
Parent: Don McGrane
Spouse: Karen (married May 17, 1963)
Children: Shannon and Daniel
Date of death: Wednesday, July 19, 1967
Death details: Hostile, missing in South Vietnam; Navy Lt. Dennis W. Peterson of Huntington Park, Calif., was the pilot of a SH-3A helicopter that crashed in Ha Nam Province, North Vietnam. Peterson was accounted for on March 30, 2012. Also, aboard the aircraft was Ensign Donald P. Frye of Los Angeles, Calif.; Aviation Antisubmarine Warfare Technicians William B. Jackson of Stockdale, Texas; and Donald P. McGrane of Waverly, Iowa. The crew were buried, as a group, on May 2, 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery. On July 19, 1967, the four servicemen took off from the USS Hornet aboard an SH-3A Sea King helicopter, on a search and rescue mission looking for a downed pilot in Ha Nam Province, North Vietnam. During the mission, an enemy concealed 37mm gun position targeted the helicopter as it flew in. The helicopter was hit by the anti-aircraft gunfire, causing the aircraft to lose control, catch fire and crash, killing all four servicemen. In October 1982, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) repatriated five boxes of remains to U.S. officials. In 2009, the remains within the boxes were identified as Frye, Jackson, and McGrane. In 1993, a joint U.S./S.R.V. team, investigated a loss in Ha Nam Province. The team interviewed local villagers who identified possible burial sites linked to the loss. One local claimed to have buried two of the crewmen near the wreckage, but indicated that both graves had subsequently been exhumed. Between 1994 and 2000, three joint U.S./S.R.V. teams excavated the previous site and recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage that correlated to the crew’s SH-3A helicopter. In 2000, U.S. personnel excavated the crash site recovering additional remains. Analysis from the Joint POW/MIA Command Central Identification Laboratory subsequently designated these additional remains as the co-mingled remains of all four crewmen, including Peterson.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives, Department of Defense
Lester Evan Holmes from Plainfield, Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: May 22, 1967
Death details: On June 18, 2003, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Lester Evan Holmes, missing from the Vietnam War.
Colonel Holmes, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Iowa, served with 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. On May 22, 1967, he served as a crewmember on board an O-1G Bird Dog (serial number 51-12102) on a direct air support mission over Quang Binh Province in North Vietnam. During the mission, the Bird Dog was shot down and Col Holmes was killed. Hostile presence in the area inhibited search efforts after the crash. In 1999, a joint U.S./Vietnamese investigative team located the crash site of the Bird Dog and recovered remains which were later identified as those of Col Holmes.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Lester Henry Diekmann from Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Corporal Lester Henry Diekmann, who joined the U.S. Army from Iowa, served with Headquarters Battery, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. His unit was assigned to Task Force Smith, which attempted to stop the NKPA’s advance into South Korea. He was captured by enemy forces during the battle on July 5, and forced on a months-long march north to the Apex Camps on the Yalu River. He died of exhaustion and malnutrition on an unspecified day in December, 1950, at the prison camp at Hanjang-ni, and was buried near the camp. After the war, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, Corporal Diekmann 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 Clarence Niemann from Iowa, Bremer county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. First Lieutenant Robert Clarence Niemann, who joined the U.S. Army from Iowa, served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Task Force Smith, and he was captured by enemy forces on July 5. He was marched north to a temporary prison in a schoolhouse in Pyongyang, where he died of dysentery on an unspecified day in mid-August. When U.S. forces gained control of Pyongyang in October, they buried 1LT Niemann in a temporary United Nations cemetery there; however, Pyongyang was retaken by enemy forces in December, and U.S. forces did not gain control the city again. After the ceasefire, 1LT Niemann’s remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, First Lieutenant Niemann is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency