David Henry Stoppelwerth, age 26, from West Chester, Ohio, Butler county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, January 18, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Cemetery: Saint Mary
Source: National Archives, Cincinnati Enquirer (1970)
Donald A. Kern, age 22, from Ohio, Butler county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, May 5, 1951
Death details: Just after midnight on May 5, 1951, a B-26C Invader (tail number 44-34405A, nicknamed “The 5th Chadwick”) using callsign Skillful 17, departed Taegu (K-2) Air Base, South Korea with a crew of four aviators. The briefed mission was a night armed reconnaissance operation targeting the enemy main supply route 3 in North Korea. While on patrol, an air control station directed Skillful 17 to target a barracks near Wonsan, North Korea. After multiple bombing and strafing runs, the pilot spotted a row of lights, which appeared to be truck moving along a road. When his tracer rounds illuminated the area, the pilot realized it was a trap. A string of blinking lights had been placed on a steep hill to look like a convoy moving down a level road, causing an aircraft, attempting to strafe the mock convoy, to fly into the ground. The pilot immediately pulled up; however, the aircraft still grazed the ground, damaging its left engine. The damaged Invader recovered and headed toward the sea, slowly losing altitude. Once over Yonghung Bay, the pilot was able to make a successful “Mayday” call before crashing a few miles off the coast of the Hodo Peninsula. The following morning, search personnel rescued Skillful 17’s observer pilot. He reported that the pilot and navigator replied to his calls after escaping from the plane, but because of the darkness and his weakened condition, the observer pilot was unable to assist them. After a brief period, he did not hear them again. All efforts to locate the remaining aviators were unsuccessful. First Lieutenant Douglas Bruce Kern, who entered the U.S. Air Force from Minnesota, was assigned to the 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Wing. He was the navigator of this B-26 when it was lost. The sole survivor reported hearing 1st Lt Kern reply to his calls just after the crash, but due to the darkness and his exhaustion, he was unable to assist him. Additionally, no returning POWs mentioned contact with 1st Lt Kern, nor was he seen at any known holding point, interrogation center, hospital, or permanent POW camp. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, First Lieutenant Kern 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
James Kenneth Tuttle, age 21, from Ohio, Butler 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. Corporal James Kenneth Tuttle joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Company C was near Unsan in defensive positions with the 1st Battalion when it was hit by a severe enemy attack and forced to withdraw. It was during this fighting that CPL Tuttle went missing, though specific details regarding 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, Corporal Tuttle is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Cincinnati Enquirer (1954)
Robert Clarence Bucheit from Ohio, Butler county.
Parents: Mary C. Bucheit
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On August 8, 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Robert Clarence Bucheit, missing from the Korean War. Sergeant First Class Bucheit joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, when the 8th Cavalry Regiment was under attack from Chinese Communist Forces near Unsan, North Korea, SFC Bucheit was killed during this action. His body was not recovered at the time of his loss, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody immediately after the ceasefire. In 2000, a joint U.S./North Korean investigative team interviewed a farmer living who uncovered human remains while performing reclamation work near Unsan. The team excavated the burial site and recovered several more sets of human remains, and SFC Bucheit was eventually identified from among these remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Dayton Daily News (1950)