Furnas County Nebraska

Stafford, Ronald Dean
Air Force Captain

Ronald Dean Stafford, age 29, from Oxford, Nebraska, Furnas county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, November 21, 1972

Death details: On November 21, 1972, an F-111 Aardvark (tail number 67-092, call sign “Burger 54”) with a crew of two embarked on a combat mission over North Vietnam. The last known contact with the Aardvark occurred when the aircraft was over Laos in the vicinity of (GC)  WD 600 870 and approaching the target, which was located at (GC) XE 429 479. When nothing further was heard from “Burger 54,” search efforts were initiated, but were unsuccessful. Ten days after “Burger 54” disappeared, pieces of the aircraft were found on a beach in South Vietnam in the vicinity of (GC) ZD 060 160. Investigators determined that the aircraft had crashed at sea with the crew aboard, and that the crew had probably not survived the crash.

Captain Ronald Dean Stafford, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Nebraska, served with the 430th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was the pilot of the Aardvark when it crashed, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Captain Stafford is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Herrick, Lyle Eugene
Army Private

Lyle Eugene Herrick, age 26, from Furnas County Nebraska.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
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. Private First Class Lyle Eugene Herrick, who joined the U.S. Army from Nebraska, was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 30 during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri, but the exact circumstances surrounding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not recovered or identified following the end of the war. Today, Private First Class Herrick 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

Meyers, Victor L.
Army Private

Victor L. Meyers, age 23, from Furnas County Nebraska.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed in action at Hickam Field

Source: National Archives, Omaha World Herald (1943)

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