James Marvin Ball, age 28, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, September 16, 1970
Death details: Body recovered
Source: National Archives
John Albert Deroo, age 21, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, January 6, 1970
Death details: Body recovered
Source: National Archives
Edward L Krausman from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, March 16, 1968
Death details:
On March 16, 1968, three American Marines departed on a fishing trip from a riverbank near the Da Dong Bridge, in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Members of the bridge security platoon reported they observed the three men inside the boat just southwest of the bridge. This was the last time anyone saw the three men, and when they did not return from the trip they were reported missing. Immediate searches for the missing Marines were unsuccessful. On March 21, the floating body of one of the missing men was found just west of the bridge, but the other two men were never found.
Private First Class Edward L. Krausman entered the U.S. Marine Corps from California and was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was not located following the fishing trip and after the incident, the Marine Corps posthumously promoted PFC Krausman to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSgt). Today, Staff Sergeant Krausman is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Donald Edward Close, age 33, from Los Angeles County Burbank, California .
Parents: William E. and Hazel Close
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Stanford University
Military history: Korean War veteran
Date of death: Saturday, May 15, 1965
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam when guerrillas destroyed a 12-truck convoy.
Source: National Archives, Press Telegram (1965)
Robert Spencer Patterson, age 21, from Los Angeles County Burbank, California .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, August 6, 1945
Death details: Killed aboard USS Bullhead SS-332 when it was sunk by air attack near the Lombok Strait.
Source: On Eternal Patrol
Francis Clare Beesley, age 20, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Spouse: Mrs. Francis C. Beesley
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, July 22, 1944
Cemetery: Black Hills National
Source: National Archives, grave marker
Wilbur Clyde Mattern, age 23, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Parents: Phile J. Mattern
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, November 21, 1943
Death details: On August 9, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced the identification of Private First Class Wilbur Clyde Mattern, missing from World War II. Private First Class Mattern, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Iowa, was assigned to Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 21, 1943, he was killed on the second day of battle, during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, as part of the Battle of Tarawa. He was buried in 8th Marines Cemetery #2, later designated as #27, on Betio; however, his remains could not be identified from among the remains recovered from Betio after the war. In 2015, the independent investigative group History Flight, in partnership with DPAA, located a burial trench on Betio and recovered human remains there. DPAA analysts identified PFC Mattern from among these remains.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Alvan W. Mussen, age 25, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Spouse: Garnet Moede
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, June 23, 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. Corporal Alvan W. Mussen joined the U.S. Army from California and was a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment. He was taken as a prisoner of war by Japanese forces following the U.S. surrender in the Philippines. CPL Mussen was held at the Cabanatuan camp, where he died of dysentery on June 23, 1942. He was reportedly buried at the camp cemetery; however, investigations of Cabanatuan after the war have failed to locate or identify his remains. Today, Corporal Mussen is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, San Fernando Valley Times (1944)
Jack Henry Harder from Los Angeles County Burbank, California .
Parents: Clara King Hobbs
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, March 1, 1942
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Houston when the ship was attacked traveling from Batavia to Java.
Source: National Arvhies, USSHouston.org
Walter Leon Collier, age 20, from Burbank, California, Los Angeles county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Pearl Harbor
Source: Nation Archives, San Fernando Valley Times (1941)