Jamie Scott Nicholas, age 32, from Maysel, West Virginia, Clay county.
Parents: Burke and Karen Nicholas
Spouse: Michelle
Service era: Iraq
Schools: Clay County High (1994)
Military history: Company B, 1St Battalion, 7Th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, Nc
Date of death: Monday, September 29, 2008
Death details: Hostile; Yakhchal, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, findagrave.com, Military Times
Flavy Carl Hamrick, age 21, from Harrison, West Virginia, Clay 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 Flavy Carl Hamrick joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of Company I of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, members of Company I were in defensive positions near Unsan when they received orders to withdraw. The unit faced enemy fire as they withdrew, and Corporal Hamrick was wounded. He was captured during the action and died within ten days while en route to Prison Camp 5 near Pyoktong. Other returnees reported that they saw Corporal Hamrick shortly after his capture and that he did not survive the march. His burial location is unknown and his remains were not recovered. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Hamrick is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Charleston Daily Mail (1951)
Fred A. Shamblin, age 19, from West Virginia, Clay county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, July 13, 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. Sergeant Fred A. Shamblin joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from West Virginia and served with the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured following the Allied surrender and forced on the Bataan Death March. He was ultimately interned in the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of dysentery on July 13, 1942. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Sergeant Shamblin is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency