Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Philip Alfred Kalhagen, age 23, from Madison, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Parents: Bertrran Kalhagen
Spouse: Kim. Married in Korea in 1969. She came to American for the first time to attend his funeral.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: West High (1965)
Date of death: Friday, June 19, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Veitnam
Cemetery: Roselawn Memroial Park
Source: National Archives, Madison Captial Times (1970)
Duane Richard, age 20, from Middleton, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Parents: Dorman Richard
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Middleton High (1967)
Date of death: Tuesday, February 10, 1970
Death details: Killed in an aircraft accident.
Source: National Archives, Wisconsin State Journal (1970)
Donald James Ayen, age 27, from Dane County Madison, Wisconsin .
Parents: Elmer Ayen
Service era: Korea
Schools: East High graduate
Date of death: Wednesday, January 24, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Master Sergeant Donald James Ayen, who joined the U.S. Army from Wisconsin, was a member of the Headquarters Battery, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri on December 1, 1950. He was eventually marched to the Hojong Camp in North Korea, also known as the Death Valley Camp, where he died of starvation and pneumonia on January 24, 1951. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Master Sergeant Ayen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, The Capital Times (1953)
Wallace Edward Goff, age 25, from Madison, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Parents: Frederick J. Goff
Spouse: Virginia (Halder, son, 2
Service era: Korea
Schools: East High, graduated from Jerseyville High, Illinois
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Tuesday, August 22, 1950
Death details: Killed in action, South Korea
Cemetery: Forest Hill, Madison
Source: National Archives, Wisconsin State Journal, 35th Infantry Regiment Association
Arthur G. Herfel, age 27, from Wisconsin, Dane county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: March 24, 1945
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives
Allen Marvin Berge, age 23, from Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Parents: Andrew Berge
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, November 20, 1944
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. Corporal Allen Marvin Berge, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Wisconsin, served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 20, 1943, he was wounded in action on Tarawa, and was transferred to a US Naval ship for treatment. He subsequently died but the disposition of his remains is unknown and he has not been associated with any of the remains later recovered from Tarawa burial sites. Today, Corporal Berge is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
William Laverne Simon, age 20, from Middleton, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, November 5, 1944
Death details: Accounted for November 29, 2022. In November 1944, Simon was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was reported killed in action on Nov. 5. His remains could not be recovered during the battle. Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950 but were unable to identify Simons’s remains. He was declared nonrecoverable on Dec. 10, 1950. While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-5767 Neuville, recovered in a field south of Hürtgen in 1946 possibly belonged to Simon. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in April 2019 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Robert P. Buss, age 26, from Madison, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona
Source: National Archives, The Capital Times (1941)
Joseph J. Finnerty, age 23, from Madison, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Sunday, September 1, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Oise Aisne American
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com
John Lyman Galvin from Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, Dane county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Sunday, August 11, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com