Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Dorris Wayne Trainer, age 21, from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Christian county.
Parents: John W. Trainer and Louise Hamilton
Spouse: Bonnie Susan Trainer
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Hopkinsville High (1968)
Date of death: Wednesday, March 18, 1970
Source: National Archives, Clarksville Leaf Chronicle (1970)
James Warren Finzel, age 35, from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Christian county.
Spouse: Patsy G. Finzel
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, March 6, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Roy D. Smith, age 23, from Crofton, Kentucky, Christian county.
Parents: Day Ray Smith
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 1961
Death details: Among 11 Navy men killed when their Neptune bomber plunged into the oceans 100 miles off Virginia. The two-engine, long-range bomber was taking part in an antisubmarine training mission with the carrier Lake Champlain.
Source: Associated Press (1961), Portland Press Herald (1961)
Ben Hadden Gore, age 20, from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Christian county.
Parents: Ruth Gore
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, November 25, 1943
Death details: On September 1, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced it has identified the remains of Private First Class Ben Hadden Gore, missing from World War II. Private First Class Gore, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Kentucky, was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force. He was injured sometime and died, likely from his wounds, on November 25, 1943, during his unit’s assault on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll. Although the exact circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, he was buried on Betio at the time. After the war, his remains could not be identified from among those recovered from the island. In 2015, the nongovernmental organization History Flight, Inc., discovered a burial site on Betio Island and recovered the remains of 35 U.S. service members who fought during the battle in November 1943; the remains were turned over to the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii, and analysts used modern forensic techniques that eventually identified Pfc Gore from among them.
Cemetery: Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville
Source: National Archives, findagrave.com, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Tommy Lee Moss, age 26, from Herndon, Kentucky, Christian county.
Parents: Buck Moss
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Owensboro Messenger Inquirer (1942)
Daniel G. Foster, age 28, from Pembroke, Kentucky, Christian county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Monday, November 4, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Riverside in Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com