Kenneth William Cowsert, age 19, from Pacific, Missouri, Franklin county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, March 10, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile, died from an illness in a U.S. Army Hospital in Tokyo. His mother was at his bedside when he became critically ill. His father was unable to get there before Kenneth died.
Source: National Archives, Saint Clair Chronicle (1970)
George Dale Harper, age 21, from Saint Clair, Missouri, Franklin county.
Parents: John C. Harper
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, February 1, 1970
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam.
Source: National Archives, Sedalia Democrat (1970)
Russell Calvin Pinnell from Missouri, Franklin county.
Children: Jimmy and Janet
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. Sergeant First Class Russell Calvin Pinnell joined the U.S. Army from Missouri and was a member of Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company E was in defensive positions with the 2nd Battalion near Unsan when it came under heavy attack and was forced to withdraw after being nearly surrounded by the CCF. Sergeant First Class Pinnell was captured during this battle and marched first to the Sambokkol temporary holding point with other 8th Cavalry prisoners of war (POW), then to Camp 5 at Pyoktong on the Yalu River. Following the close of the war, several POWs returned to the U.S. reported that SFC Pinnell died at Pyoktong in mid-winter, of malnutrition and pneumonia. The Communists further reported that he died of pneumonia on March 1, 1951. A consistent burial location was not reported by the POW returnees and he has not been identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Pinnell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Washington Citizen (1954)
Woodrow F. Gerdes, age 21, from Missouri, Franklin county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, November 9, 1944
Death details: Finding of death
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency