Obediah James Kolath, age 32, from Louisburg, Missouri
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Us Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, Nc
Date of death: Sunday, August 28, 2005
Death details: Died in Landstuhl, Germany from injuries sustained August 25, 2005 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Husaybah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Lindsey Thomas James, age 23, from Urbana, Missouri, Dallas county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc, 2D Bn, 14Th Inf Regiment, 10Th Mountain Div (Tf Baghdad), Fort Drum, Ny
Date of death: Saturday, January 29, 2005
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Leonard L. Cansler from Missouri, Dallas county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, December 19, 1944
Death details: On January 29, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private James J. Cansler, missing from World War II. Private Cansler joined the U.S. Army from Missouri and was a member of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, which took part in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. On December 19, 1944, he and other members of his company were securing a road and section of woods southeast of Vossenack, Germany. Private Cansler was last seen at the edge of these woods and was reported as missing in action when his company reorganized the next day. Attempts to locate him following his disappearance were unsuccessful. In 2018, the DPAA began an analysis of a set of remained declared as “unknowns” that were thought to relate to a missing soldier killed at Vossenack. DPAA used a multidisciplinary analysis that eventually led to the identification of the remains as those of Private Cansler. Private Cansler is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Buell Frederick Powell, age 21, from Long Lane, Missouri, Dallas county.
Parents: Carrie M. Powell
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: From November 20 through 23, 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy conducted a large-scale amphibious assault on the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa as part of Operation Galvanic, the Allied capture of the Gilbert Islands. Located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, Tarawa was a crucial stepping stone in the planned U.S. offensive across the central Pacific toward Japan. The Japanese garrison on Tarawa’s main island of Betio was well-entrenched with hundreds of bunkers and gun positions behind formidable beach obstacles. The first wave of Marines approaching the shore encountered lower-than-expected tides, forcing them to leave their landing craft on the reef and wade the hundreds of yards to the beach under intense enemy fire. The heaviest number of U.S. casualties were suffered during this phase of the landing. Eventually, rising tides allowed U.S. warships to maneuver closer to shore and support the troops with effective naval gunfire. More Marines landed on the second day, launching attacks inland from the beaches and seizing the Japanese airfield on the island. However, the enemy launched vicious counterattacks and two more days of intense fighting were needed to secure Betio. The last enemy strongpoints were taken on the morning of November 23. The fighting on Betio cost the Marines nearly 3,000 casualties but enabled U.S. forces to press further across the Pacific and yielded valuable tactical lessons that reduced U.S. losses in future amphibious landings. Platoon Sergeant Buell Frederick Powell entered the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from Missouri, and was promoted in the field to Second Lieutenant with his service with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa and was buried on Betio in Cemetery #11. His remains were not identified among those disinterred from the island after the war. Today, Second Lieutenant Powell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Simon Garelick from Missouri, Dallas county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, November 4, 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 and food and water supplied 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 Simon Garelick joined the U.S. Army from Missouri and was a member of Headquarters Company, Philippine Department, during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942 and died of dysentery on November 4, 1942 at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. 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 Garelick is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency