Merrill Henry Blakewell, age 28, from Kansas, Ellsworth county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 1st Squadron, 8012th Composite Force;
Date of death: Tuesday, October 19, 1943
Death details: Died non-battle
Cemetery: North Africa American Cemetery, memorialized at Black Hills National
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, grave marker
Lloyd Raymond Hooper from Ellsworth County Ellsworth, Kansas .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, March 1, 1942
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Houston when the ship was attacked traveling from Batavia to Java.
Source: National Arvhies, USSHouston.org
Walter Sidney Jr. Belt, age 25, from Ellsworth, Kansas, Ellsworth county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: Purple Heart
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Navy Fireman 1st Class Walter S. Belt, Jr., 25, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 3, 2021.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Belt was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Belt.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Buford Earl Bonebrake, age 19, from Concordia, Kansas, Ellsworth county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered. His brother 2nd Lt. Otis Bonebrake died in a German prison camp
Cemetery: Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Beatrice Daily Sun (1984), Fort Collins Coloradoan (1945)